Linguist Louise Banks and physicist Ian Donnelly work together to understand the cryptic language of alien visitors as tensions over the visitors’ true intentions threaten global war.
*This review contains spoilers.*
Arrival is beautiful.
It’s based on one of the most profound stories I’ve ever read—Ted Chiang’s short story, “Story of Your Life”. Chiang is an unorthodox sci-fi writer, to say the least. The few works he publishes each decade are meticulously researched and carefully plotted, leaving you to reflect upon but a sliver of his knowledge and introspection throughout the story. Villeneuve’s adaptation remains faithful to Chiang’s vision, unfurling the mystery of the alien visitors with the help of a haunting score developed by Johann Johannson and breathtaking cinematography that draws the viewer in.
Like the painstaking reality of the scientific process, plot details are not pushed at the viewer in Arrival. The true nature of the written language of the heptapods, as the visitors are called, is revealed little by little. The heptapods themselves are also almost always shrouded in shadows, adding to the tension as powerful world leaders scramble to understand the aliens’ intentions.
Though it is never explicitly stated, I believe free will is one of the main themes explored in the film, enabled in part by the nonlinear storytelling Villeneuve (and Chiang) employs. General Shang, the effective Chinese head of state, and Louise are both given difficult choices that shape the foundation of the plot. However, through admirable worldbuilding by Chiang, they both know what will happen in the near future as a consequence of their actions. Thus a conflict is established—will they make the choice that propels them to that known future?
The heptapods’ language structure is nonlinear. Abbott and Costello, the delegates whom we interact with, draw their circular “logogram” symbols without a beginning or end; the complex structures simply fall into place like their positions were predetermined. Like how one may begin dreaming in Russian after months of intensive learning, the heptapods’ unique language structure allows them to perceive time differently than humans, who write with directional space-time. Every moment of a heptapod’s life “story” is revealed to them—there is no beginning, no end. There is some ambiguity, however; we are never truly told how the heptapods perceive time’s plasticity. Is it continuously shaped by our actions or free from our control?
The climax gives us a clue. In Louise’s vision of the future where the world is at peace, General Shang tells Louise his private number despite Louise having already called him then. This must mean that Shang has also learned the heptapod language. After seeing this vision, Louise runs to achieve her vision by contacting Shang through the number she saw in the future.
There is a little uncertainty in the chronology here. Was Shang’s wife already dead at that point and My best guess is that Shang’s wife died sometime after Louise called and before Shang gave orders for the Chinese military to stand down. Louise told Shang his wife’s dying words and how she knows them: from Shang at the banquet celebrating world unification, which he helped broker by sharing China’s data with the world. Shang then executes this—just like Louise—to turn the future into reality, preferring world peace over Chinese conflict. However, perhaps this uncertainty is in line with the film’s theme of nonlinear time.
Another example lies in the visions Louise experiences throughout the film of her yet-to-be-born daughter, Hannah. Donnelly gets upset when Louise tells him about Hannah’s condition, says she made the wrong choice. Louise decided to see Hannah’s life through despite knowing its tragic end. In both cases, the character with knowledge of the future acts to “preserve the timeline” because they want the timeline to be preserved. Perhaps the characters always intended to follow the timeline, whether they realized it or not; one interpretation is that Louise loved Donnelly and would’ve started a family regardless, and Shang was bluffing and was looking for an excuse to begin negotiations with the rest of the world. In that case, seeing the future only solidified their resolve to follow through with their actions.
I also can’t help but notice similarities between Arrival and Villeneuve’s latest work, Dune. Composers for both films approach the sound design and score with distinctive experimentation, much different from John Williams’ European classical orchestra style. The plot and narrative structure is also similar, with non-linear storytelling and the protagonist experiencing visions that are at the core of the story. These parallels make sense, though—Villeneuve has mentioned that he directed Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 as preparation for directing the sci-fi epic Dune, which was his childhood dream ever since he read the saga.
The film uses sound as an integral component of storytelling. It’s apparent from the very first few sequences - the loud noises of panicked traffic as an unidentified object descends onto Earth; the deep rumbling voices of the aliens as they interact with the scientists; the environmental sounds in the flashback scenes - they all serve to completely immerse the viewer into the story world. The film won an Oscar for best sound editing, which is unsurprising. The sound design is also woven into the score itself. In “First Encounter”, as Louise meets the heptapods, a distorted elephant-like leitmotif plays. It’s distinctly reminiscent of the heptapods’ spoken language in its pitch and timbre. Every time we enter the chamber and hear the leitmotif, we’re reminded that we are but mere guests of a civilization far beyond our understanding.
Highly polished and emotionally impactful, Arrival stands as one of the best first-contact films I’ve ever seen. I’m glad the screenplay stayed true to the heart of Chiang’s story and utilized the film medium to flesh out the narrative even more. “Stories of Your Life” is a short story collection that includes the basis for Arrival and many more mindbending sci-fi snippets. I can’t recommend it enough.
****
More films about free will:
The Truman Show
The Minority Report
Gattaca
The Matrix
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