Warning: Plot spoilers throughout.
I always thought language acquisition to be incredibly interesting. How we, as humans make sense of our world through the words that we use to describe it. I remember studying it in Sixth Form College in English Language and always found elements of it amazing. It’s not an easy thing to do either, I’m sure a lot of us have tried learning a second language in school and what little input was available there wasn’t enough to make us masters at it. Hell people older than me now can’t grasp the basic concepts of their first language.
I weep for the supposed quandary of there, their and they’re. The apparent dilemma of when to capitalize words (note, in English it isn’t for everything). Over use of apostrophes. Incorrect grammar, spelling and syntax. If I had money for every time someone “brought” something online, I’d be wealthy enough to “bruy” all the things I could ever want! My, as ever, convoluted point is that, language is tricky and it can take all our lives to master it. There are so many nuances to language; both written, spoken and non-vocal communication all add to the picture of understanding what is being ‘said’. 93% of all forms of communication is non-verbal, this may help you to understand why your friend fell out with you because they didn’t understand the sarcasm in your text message.
So what does this have to do with brand new movie release Arrival? Well, quite a lot actually.
Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is a well renowned linguistics expert and is a lecturer on languages. The film opens by giving us an Up type tale of heartwarming and heart wrenching love. We see Banks playing with daughter Hannah in an almost perfect picture of mother-daughter bonding. The sequence that follows shows Hannah’s progression to being a young woman until she is struck down in her teenage years, lost to a presumed aggressive disease.
Banks is understandably distressed by this, but soldiers on and returns to work. Upon arriving at the University there are swarms of students being distracted by the TVs and their mobile phones. Very quickly, the warning sirens in the campus are going off and everyone is being evacuated to their homes. The threat, though described slightly in news stories, is not shown. Louise returns home to watch the news seemingly at a loss and experiencing flashes of memory of her lost daughter. It is apparent that these objects that have appeared around the world, in 12 different locations, are ‘alien’ in nature. It isn’t long before she is approached by a Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to help with the situation. He simply places a digital recorder on Banks’ desk and plays her the recording, of the first alien communication heard on Earth.
Weber asks Banks to translate the recording. There and then. OK, this really annoyed me to be honest. I can appreciate that not everyone knows how various expertise works, I couldn’t tell you how to operate on someone for example, but I know damn well tell you something that you need to do – sterile environment, mark the correct areas on the body etc. For Weber to come in and just assume that because Banks is a specialist linguistics expert doesn’t mean she can speak alien! I can only assume that this level of ignorance/lack of understanding was perhaps a commentary on how people with little knowledge make assumptions of those with the expertise. Thankfully, Banks explains to Weber that she couldn’t possibly understand a whole new language from a recording, as that’s not how it works.
Weber explicitly tells her that she is not going to see the alien structures and he will try someone else. Banks, knowing who he will go to next challenges Weber to ask the other option what “war” is in Sanskrit. When at home, Banks is visited upon by helicopters and Weber who gives her the answer. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear what was said as the sound of the helicopters drowned out what was being said. Now I appreciate they are loud machines, but for the sake of dialogue in a film, I feel they could probably be edited so it could have been heard.
At this point we are introduced to Dr. Ian Donnelly (ably played by Jeremy Renner), a theoretical physicist who is a warm and a welcome addition given the cold nature of the beginning of the film. Both he and Banks were being taken to the alien vessel in Montana to be a part of the team that are trying to engage with the aliens. Before they can be briefed, or get told what is going (we need to know too as the audience), they are whisked up inside the pod shaped craft. A lot of the focus on the two main characters as Donnelly to be excited and bewildered at the whole event and Banks to be scared and anxious. As they enter the alien ship (which are long and wide but relatively thin, standing vertically) the gravity is different and we learn that there are also low levels of radiation (so they bring a canary in a cage, if the canary dies, then the air is not safe). They finally make it into what seems to be the main chamber of the ship, a large glass like wall that is brilliantly white from the fog on the other side. After a few moments, of waiting for “them” to be appear, do we see the first glimpse of the aliens, this is Banks moment to make contact…
Cut to outside when they are being decontaminated, yep, that’s right, we don’t actually see the first interaction or what happens. Which for the life of me I don’t get. Perhaps she ballsed it up, she did ask if she was fired afterwards, leading me to believe that it wasn’t a wholly successful first encounter. But hell, you’ve spent the first half an hour building to this moment, at least show it.
Anyway, this is where the story picks up. Weber wants to ask the main question “what is your purpose on Earth?” Banks explains that this will take time as it’s not a simple case of asking the question. It is not known what the Heptapods (termed for their seven legs) can understand and they need to be taught the English language. I really appreciated this scene in particular because Banks did not stop there, she broke down the question completely into the various quadrants that need to be comprehended before the question can actually be asked. There is obviously a lot of factors at work:
- Weber needs to report to the American government about what is going.
- The network of countries working together around the globe is stretched and are all trying different methods to engage with the Heptapods (including planning attacks).
Differing opinions and strong characters make themselves known in debates about how to proceed as the standard military-esque CIA man wants to get his attack ready and is seemingly unimpressed with the process of trying to communicate with them. In a brilliant nod to the importance of non-verbal communication, Banks utilizes a whiteboard to help communicate with the Heptapods. She begins by writing her own name, when nothing happens, she steps out of radiation suit to show the Heptapods, “they need to see me” she declares. In doing this, she gets a “proper introduction.”
All of the interactions with the Heptapods that follow involve deciphering their language which seems to be unrelated to the noises they make, occasionally very loud and quite terrifying. The Heptapods make rings with intricate markings coming off the body of the rings with an ink like substance that emanates from their legs. By writing English words and coding the circular language that follows, Banks and Donnelly are able to begin making a rudimentary phrasebook to help them understand the Heptapods better. They name the two Heptapods they are interacting with, Abbott and Costello, almost developing some form of relationship. They continue to make progress. All the while building to the main question “what is your purpose on Earth?”
After the interaction when Banks removed her suit, she is seemingly affected in some way, though after physical tests she seems fine. She is struggling to sleep however, and is seemingly plagued by waking flashbacks of Hannah, at moments when something happening would relate to something in her memory. For example, the canary tweeting loudly took her to a memory of her drawing a cartoon of Banks and her former husband hosting an animal show. At points it is unclear as to whether the visions she is seeing are all part of a dream, a living memory or actual interactions with the Heptapods and I believe that is the intention in an effort to try to emphasize the struggle that Banks is going through. For the rest of the film Banks encounters these memories with an increasing regularity.
Around the world, tensions are rising as other pods are communicating but they don’t seem to be doing as well as Banks and Donnelly. China is apparently the most on edge and General Chang (Tzi Ma) is moving towards a full-out strike against the Heptapods ship, with several like-minded countries falling in line to do the same, taking the lead from China. As the film builds to its climax it is revealed that the Heptapods have spoken “choose weapon“. This phrase is the catalyst to the final act. I spoke before about the importance of the little nuances in language, you cannot merely read a sentence (or in this case two words), with no context and know exactly what is being said. Many places around the world have decided that this means that the Heptapods are choosing war or a weapon.
One of the pods has been learning via chess and Mahjong which is a brilliant idea, but Banks points out “if you’ve only ever had the hammer, then you’ll only find nails” implying that it could well be humans who are teaching the Heptapods to be aggressive. Banks is adamant that Abbott and Costello have better intentions, after all, she has spent the last month getting to know them, in a way. She posits that they could be willing to share a weapon, or that they don’t understand “weapon” and could be referring to a tool or technology. Of course, this is largely falling on deaf ears and expecting a retaliation from the Heptapods after the inevitable announcement from China that they will attack in short time, the operation to understand is over, now it is about preparing for war. This is despite the Heptapods providing them with an image which is supposedly one of twelve pieces (the other lying with the other pods around the globe) of a technology to help the human race. The only catch, the human race would have to work together. Of course, by this point everyone is radio silence, so no one is talking to anyone. Figures.
After another bout with memories, Banks realizes that she fully understands the Heptapod language and feels that she can straighten all of this out. Banks makes a break for the pod, now half a mile in the air after an attempted attack by rogue soldiers who felt the Heptapods were a threat and that the operation to “have coffee with the aliens” was a joke. As she gets there she brought up to pod by one of the Heptapod who engages her in a final conversation explaining to her that “Louise is in the future”…wait what? I hear you cry. Remember those memories, turns out they weren’t, as we originally thought, memories from the past, but in fact visions of the future. It turns out Louise Banks does not have a daughter or an ex-husband at this point.
It is revealed that the Heptapods do not experience time in the linear way that humans do and to understand their language is to be present in all periods of time; past, present and future. Louise will have a daughter and her husband will leave. Then her daughter will get sick and pass away. It is all to come. There are some great scenes throughout the film where the present links to the future and you come to appreciate all of the flash-forwards so much more from this point. It feels like almost as though the more Banks immersed herself in the language, the more “native” she was becoming, experiencing more flashes of the future.
What follows is an intense sequence where Banks must talk with General Chang before he attacks, but there are literal minutes and she’s on the other side of the globe. What does she have to do? Does she succeed? Well…I’m not going to tell you, but suffice it to say, I was very happy with how they do it.
I know, I know, I’ve spent this whole review telling you everything and there’s a spoiler warning at the top of the page, but you know what, it’s worth going to the cinema (or waiting for a DVD/Netflix release) to watch. Ultimately Arrival does something alien encounters very differently and language is at the core, and it is delightful. I was concerned that the producers may lose their nerve around the focus on the language but it really pays off and it’s enthralling to watch Abbott and Costello learn English.
The film feels well-paced, although I felt the start was perhaps rushed, but I realized that this was more the point to emphasize the urgency in what was happening. The acting was great, Renner provides a great light-hearted character opposite the much more serious Adams. Though I will say, one thing I noticed that seemed off was some of the focusing. At one point in a small room with seven or eight people the front three or four were in focus and the remainder were out of focus, the scene didn’t seem to “begin” until the rest were in focus, though given the small quarters and the lack of attention those characters required, it felt unnecessary. It may well have been a means to convey the cloudiness of Louise Banks’ sleep addled mind at that point in the film, though this never seemed to be touched on if it were.
For me, Arrival was a triumph. The few annoyances aside, it manages to bring a totally different take to the alien encounter escapade. One that didn’t involve all-out war from the get go. It was a gradual and rewarding experience that really succeeds for sticking to its guns (pun intended) and focusing on the power of language. War doesn’t start with a gun (usually), war starts with words, maybe misinterpreted, maybe honest and frank. Though what remains important is that we have people who mediate, who keep the bruisers from flying off the handle, from trying to make the shorter fused understand what could possibly be meant. I’m sure you only need to glance at the political world to know that a few choice words can mean the difference between peace and war. Maybe the producers can read Heptapod, maybe they knew what was going to happen in 2016, or what is to come…
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