Movies are visionary art = they are our imagination played out in large multimedia scale.

This is a fictional story, not only about contact from a higher form of intelligence, but also a testimony to a scientist's belief in something she cannot prove happened. When all around her there are accusations, criticisms, and conflicts, she remains true to herself and her ethics.

Carl Sagan's book is filled with more details than the movie could portray - all fiction is edited. However, what struck me was the space/time tunnels he described as passages into other dimensions/reality/star systems. The night I read of those I dreamed of moving rapidly through those tunnels.

Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a brilliant scientist, radio enthusiast and orphan. Her career move is to SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, renting time at the Arecibo Radio Telescope There, Ellie, an atheist, meets spiritual seeker, Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey). Shortly afterwards, Ellie loses her team's funding. She finds her benefactor in the form of S. R. Hadden (John Hurt), a billionaire private investor. Hadden's funding allows Ellie to have access to the 'Very Large Array' (VLA) in New Mexico. With 4 years of finding nothing, the project is in jeopardy.

One evening, while listening intently, Ellie finds a signal: a prime number pattern emanating from the star Vega, confirmed by others the world over, undeniable and strong in its pulsing power. And so it begins...