The science fiction genre in cinema represents a great challenge to the rational and
scientific logics of our thought structure, displaying technological, futuristic, timeless or
extra-human imageries, they give us the opportunity to explore our human reality
from a perspective that overwhelms us and questions us, constantly.
Science being generally the axis around which these narratives revolve, the greatness
of these stories lies in the possibility of confronting ourselves with the unknown of our
individual and social "preconceived" reality to transcend into different and new ways
of thinking about the world and thinking about ourselves, within ourselves.
"ARRIVAL": Are we bounded by time?
Denis Villeneuve is a Canadian director and writer named in 2019 the filmmaker of
the decade by The Hollywood Critics Association, his cinema is distinguished by
themes that allude to diversity, transculturalism and multilingualism. Formed under a
variety of productions such as Incendies (2010), Prisoners (2013) or Sicario (2015)
Villeneuve explores both the cycles of violence and destruction as well as the tragic
beauty in the relationships of humanity with technology and nature of Blade Runner
2049 (2017).
Based on the novel Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang's (1998), Denis Villeneuve
creates Arrival (2016) to build a science fiction cinema that unfolds through layers of
meaning, carefully proposing the construction of temporality and the poetics of his
evocative images, step by step he leads us to intensely experience two simultaneous
stories, one intimate and one universal, which merge to form a deep sense of
purpose, freedom and the meaning of existence.
Arrival opens with a brief but intense sequence of Dr. Louise Banks' (Amy Adams)
emotional memories from the birth to her daughter's untimely death from illness. The
evident melancholy that accompanies her is interrupted by the news of the
appearance of 12 spaceships on earth that are scattered in different parts of the
planet the army assumes the task of establishing a communication link with the aliens.
with the sole objective of knowing the true intentions of this arrival; the purpose is to
protect world security from the uncertainty of a supposed danger to humanity.
Arrival (2016) © Paramount Pictures
Therefore, they go to Louise, who being a multilingual teacher can help them
decipher some language in order to communicate with them, and to a scientist Ian
Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) to carry out this mission while the scientific gaze in the
search for answers insists on establishing a theoretical logic as an approach to the
unknown, unlike Louise, whose only tool is language. "Language is the foundation of
civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in
a conflict", says Ian, quoting the first sentence of Louise's book, and he continues,
"Well, the cornerstone of civilization isn't language, it's science".
More than a simple story of alien invasion, Arrival meticulously reveals Villeneuve's
true proposal, through a delicate and precise flow, of apparently isolated flashback
moments, we begin to deepen to experience the multiple meanings that emerge
throughout the story; which is to understand, structurally and philosophically that the
way we think, live and relate to reality is predetermined by the language in which we
communicate, according to this Louise explains it with great simplicity, before wanting
to solve any problem we must allow ourselves to observe and begin in a way that is
the most basic and simple act like speaking, saying "Hello".
Arrival (2016) © Paramount Pictures
The aliens, seen as the "other" suspend us before their own occurrence, it is then that
we need to take on the challenge of stopping thinking univocally according to our
perceptions and prejudices as oneself and proposing different elements and strategies
of dialogue to achieve an encounter as we face the unknown.
The first rupture appears with the configuration of the language of the hectapods,
which unlike the linearity of human grammatical rules, it is visually configured, looking
like more signs than language that emerges from circular ethereal images, that have
no beginning or end, implying a challenge to the perception of the order of time in
which instant concentrates temporality.
Arrival (2016) © Paramount Pictures
This analogy of language and the perception of time operates as a new possibility of
existing in time. Opening up to a new reality means deconfiguring one's perception of
time and its order, it is the possibility of breaking down the barriers that allow the
future to interweave itself in the present and offer itself to us as the opportunity to
accept, with conscious freedom, that perceiving ourselves from the imminent finitude is
the only thing that allows us to live the reality of our present with intensity.
Arrival (2016) © Paramount Pictures
The main question Louise asks while in the memory of her future is: "If you could see
your whole life laid out in front of you, would you change things? "
When we manage to clearly understand the direction of the film, it is the precise
moment in which we realize that this whole story is talking about the order of time as
a way of existing, that we live trapped in the mental configuration of a time in which
we strive to project our reality, that like language, we conceive everything with a
beginning and an end that we believe to build and that our future is something that is
not yet real. However, rather than surrender to a greater purpose from which we
escaped, the real question is whether are we willing to freely accept the life that
awaits us, knowing in advance which is the path that will follow? Does knowing the
future affect our free will?
Arrival (2016) © Paramount Pictures
Perhaps it is the opposite, facing our own finitude does not mean living in the face of
imminent death, the true meaning is living in the present that each one of us carries,
not allowing the past that has brought us here to hinder our path, either, that the
future that has not yet arrived paralyzes our steps. By accepting death as a process
of life itself, humility represents the contact with our own true nature, which is trusting
to embrace life, a life that is common to all human beings as long as we exist through
time.
Arrival (2016) Photograph: © Paramount Pictures
Words: Judith Sacal
Pictures: Arrival (2016) Photograph: © Paramount Pictures
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