Disclosure Day Review

“Listen” – Margaret Fairchild

I’ve been excited to see this movie over the past year or so, since I heard Spielberg was directing a UFO movie on location in New Jersey. As much as I appreciate his non-genre work (apart from West Side Story, which I’ve avoided because I just don’t like musicals) there’s nothing like a Spielberg UFO movie. Whether it be his signature E.T. or his criminally under-rated War of the Worlds – a Spielberg UFO movie is to me, an event. This has been the case since I attended a preview screening of Close Encounters of the Third Kind back in 1978.

Things only got better when it was announced that John Williams was once again coming out of retirement to score the film.

Unlike Close Encounters, War of the Worlds or E.T. this film doesn’t deal with an actual landing by either friendly or unfriendly visitors. It takes a darker tone, and is the perfect film for the world and age we live in, and the mood the world and the age we live in generates in us of fear, paranoia and mistrust – particularly in our elected officials. Thus, it’s one of Spielberg’s most timely, reflective and important works of the last several years – and one of his best.

The story is an original one by Spielberg, and I can see elements of all three of his previous UFO films incorporated into this one. We have the idea that the aliens are already here, and have been for some time from War of the Worlds. We have the visitors meaning us no real harm, but the government being hostile from E.T. And we have a communication between the visitors and certain ordinary individuals from Close Encounters. Somehow, and I’m not sure if it was my imagination, but I’m pretty certain that the music score contained cues either from or very reminiscent of Close Encounters and E.T. Whether it was my imagination or not, this is a subtle, understated score by Williams, which doesn’t intrude, isn’t bombastic, but subliminally adds to the film.

The ordinary people in the film are cybersecurity expert Dr Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) and Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) who presents the weather on a Kansas breakfast TV show. Kellner is on the verge of becoming a government whistleblower and is being pursued by the government because the knowledge he has will literally change EVERYTHING. Everything we know, everything we think we know. The government want to stop him by any means necessary. Meanwhile, over in Kansas, Margaret begins talking to her boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell) in languages she has never learned – and after faltering, begins to deliver a live weather report in a completely alien language.

Footage of the broadcast goes viral, and comes to the attention of the government agency who are pursuing Kellner, as they identify the language she’s speaking as alien in origin.

Representing the shady (to say the least) government agency who’ve been keeping these life changing secrets is Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). Firth is almost a show stealer here with his portrayal of Scanlon being light years away from the genial good guy roles I I’ve generally seen him cast. He’s ruthless here. But I say almost a show stealer because Emily Blunt gives an outstanding performance, which might well be a career best so far.

There are so many ideas to explore here – visitors presenting themselves as animals like deer, foxes, cardinals and so on, so they can gain trust and observe us safely is so basic, so elemental and obvious, yet it’s original – but unlike, say The Thing (1982) it’s not the point of the film. It’s not a movie about hostile shape changers and body horror – not at all. The idea that they approach children as these forms to establish first contact, but it’s not a cute E.T. type of story. Essentially, Spielberg has taken some familiar tropes and twisted then to create something else. Something new and engaging.

As I’ve mentioned, Spielberg has given us an UFO story that perfectly nails the current age. The film shows us people glued to their phones as the world is on the cusp of a globally devastating war. The government is doing everything in its power to supress and obfuscate (there’s a word I don’t use enough) events which have happened and still ARE happening which would change the human race’s view of the world, the universe and our place in it.

I’ve always considered science fiction to be that one realm of fiction that conjectures how good we could be – if enough of us tried. As such, the genre can be inspirational. The sad thing is, not enough of us try to make the human race simply better. A race to the bottom is always easier than striving for greatness. Disclosure Day addresses this, and perhaps its potent message, after all the chases, tension and excitement is simply the one last word of dialogue uttered before the credits roll.

Rob Rating = 10