Arrival (2016)

In director Denis Villeneueve's thoughtful, intelligent alien invasion and dramatic, suspenseful mystery-thriller - the transcendent and complex film with a screenplay by Eric Heisserer was based on co-scripter Ted Chiang's 1998 short story "Story of Your Life." The tagline was composed of a simple question that needed answers - what was the purpose of the aliens' 'first-contact' visit in the film?:

"Why Are They Here?"

The film's many complicated themes included linguistics, space-time theory, communication with an alien species, and the Saphir-Whorf Hypothesis (that the perception of reality was either altered or determined by the language spoken). There was also the realization that although humans mostly thought and/or acted linearly, they could also have non-linear timeline experiences. Serious questions were raised, such as: "Is the universe deterministic?" and "Do humans really have free will, or are their destinies pre-determined?"; if all events were pre-determined, wouldn't knowledge of the future be incompatible with free will?, and "Would you proceed with your life if you knew how it was all going to end?"

The underlying theme of the film was that it was palindromic, similar to the name of one of the characters (H-A-N-N-A-H). The plot began and ended similarly - reflecting the film's non-linear, circular timeline, and similar to how the main protagonist was aware of her future - the film's stunning plot twist. It strongly advocated for humanity to understand the cerebral benefits of perceiving time non-linearly, like the alien heptapods in the story. The film was also book-ended by Max Richter's classical music piece "On the Nature of Daylight," part of the highly-praised musical score by Jóhann Jóhannsson.

It received eight Academy Award nominations, but was the only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year not nominated in any of the acting categories. Besides the Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations, the others were technical in nature (Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Production Design). Its sole Oscar win was for Best Sound Editing. On a budget of $47 million, the film made revenues of $100.5 million (domestic) and $212.6 million (worldwide).

• in the prologue, linguistics (language) professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) narrated - in voice-over - a foreshadowing statement that provided a substantial clue about the film's distorted and complex timeline:
  • "I used to think this was the beginning of your story. Memory is a strange thing. It doesn't work like I thought it did. We are so bound by time, by its order...I remember moments in the middle...And this was the end... But now I'm not so sure I believe in beginnings and endings. There are days that define your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived"
• in the film's opening sequence seen as a 'flashbacked' montage, Louise interacted and played with her young 6 year-old daughter Hannah (Jadyn Malone at 6 years); but then at the age of 12 years, Hannah died in a hospital from a fatal disease (presumably cancer); at some unspecified time, Louise proceeded to her place of work, to a university lecture room

Mother and University Linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams)

Louise's 12 Year Old Daughter Hannah - Diagnosed with Terminal Illness

Hannah - Dying in Hospital

• while she was in the midst of teaching Advanced Linguistics to a small class of students in a mostly-empty large auditorium, Louise (and the students) were interrupted by news of extra-terrestrial aliens who had arrived in 12 gigantic UFO spaceships (at least 1,500 feet tall) known as "Shells" spread around the globe, including in the US state of Montana; the US President grounded all aircraft and declared a state of emergency by sending US National Guard to the area; Louise dismissed her class and the university was evacuated; she returned to her lakeside home and spoke to her mother on the phone
• the next morning in her office within the vacated university, Louise was personally approached by US Army Colonel G.T. Weber (Forest Whitaker); [Note: In Louise's office, there was a framed picture of renowned linguist Noam Chomsky in the background, and a copy of his book Aspects of the Theory of Syntax on her desk.]
• Col. Weber was aware that she still had two years (in a 5-year Top Secret clearance known as SSBI) due to her previous work with Army Intelligence in translating Farsi recordings of Iranian terrorists; he asked her to translate an audio recording of the responses to three questions asked of two aliens during an encounter: ("Why are you here?... Can you understand us? Where did you come from?") - the aliens replied with a low growl; she responded that she couldn't translate the audio: "I can tell you that it's impossible to translate from an audio file. I would need to be there, to interact with them"
• in the middle of the night, linguistic expert Louise was awakened by a helicopter landing near her home; she was again selected and recruited by Col. Weber to use her language skills to understand and communicate with the alien visitors at the only UFO invasion site in the US - in Montana
• on their way to the alien landing site in the helicopter, she was introduced to her future co-worker -- theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) from the Los Alamos labs in New Mexico; his first words to her, quoting from something that she had written, were a foreshadowing of the 'weapon' brought by the alien heptapods:
  • "Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict"
• Ian challenged Louise and told her that he disagreed with her basic statement by asserting: "The cornerstone of civilization isn't language, it's science"; he explained what he wanted to learn: "What do they want and where are they from? And beyond that, how did they get here? Are they capable of faster-than-light travel?"
• at the military base-camp set up next to the Montana sighting, Louise and Ian were briefed and tested in a medical facility; the base functioned as a communications center in contact with the other 11 sites throughout the world; to prepare to enter the huge "shell", Louise and Ian were dressed in orange protective Hazmat suits; they had their first alien encounter at the giant oval-shaped egg-like spaceship positioned vertically; it hovered slightly above the ground without touching the Earth's surface; Weber explained: "Every 18 hours, the door opens up at the bottom. That's where we go in"
• after the lower "Shell" door opened, the team of scientists-researchers (lifted up about 20 feet on a tall crane like, expanding scissors-like device) were allowed entry inside the antechamber (or lower portion) of the huge space capsule; once inside, Louise realized that it was possible to walk on the 'vertical' walls that gravitationally became 'horizontal' due to a fundamental shift; the group proceeded down a long dark corridor toward a bright rectangular-shaped area where they tested the area for contaminated air by bringing along a bird in a cage

Alien 'Arrival' - 12 Oval, Egg Shell-Like Spaceships

Underneath the Alien Spacecraft ("Shell")

Ascending on a Tall Crane Mechanism to the Shell's Lower Opening

• in an interview area, they awaited the 'arrival' of two aliens that emerged in a foggy mist,and were observed behind a transparent glass-like structure; the creatures wereportrayed as large tentacled creatures with seven octopus-like legs or limbs; the two main aliens emitted loud trumpeting or moaning sounds, and Louise seemed to be nervous and in a panic - and then the first encounter abruptly ended

First View of Two Alien Heptapods

2nd Visit: Louise's Message: "HUMAN"

One Alien Responded With Circular Mist Symbols

• Louise was told in the decontamination area by Colonel Weber that they would return in two hours; afterwards, Louise played back and studied audio recordings of the aliens, meanwhile, news-reports claimed that widespread looting, violence and chaos had erupted in various areas of the US on Day 4 of the "Alien Crisis"
• during their second entry ("shell access") and visit inside the alien spacecraft, in addition to audio sounds, Louise was more prepared and had a plan - to bring a white-board to convey a message; she suspected that the aliens also had a written language; to further their first efforts at communication with the aliens, she wrote "HUMAN" in large letters on the white-board; one of the aliens responded and emitted or drew a circular 'word' symbol of misty, inky black smoke in mid-air excreted from its limbs
• afterwards, to explain her unusual strategy to Col. Weber, she explained how explorer Captain Cook in Australia asked an aboriginal native for the name of an indigenous animal, and was told: "Kangaroo"; however, the word 'kangaroo' was actually the native's misunderstanding since it meant: "I don't understand" [Note: Although Louise shortly later admitted to Ian that the folklore story was actually untrue, Louise had used it to prove her point and convey the difficulty of interpreting the meaning of words from a different language.]
• after this second encounter, Louise meticulously studied the symbol (known as a logogram) emitted by the alien, and divided it into 12 parts; however, increasingly frustrated by slow progress, during their third visit to the interview chamber with the aliens, Louise impulsively removed her helmet and Hazmat suit, to try to interact more personally, and to learn more about the aliens' language; she approached the two creatures and extended her hand toward them on the glass; one of the aliens likewise extended its limb or armature toward her on the other side of the glass; Louise mentioned to herself: "Now that's a proper introduction"; Ian also advanced toward the glass, removed his helmet and suit, and gestured with his name on the whiteboard; the two aliens appeared to replicate their actions by presenting their names - in circular ink (Louise: "I think those are their names. They have names")

Louise and Ian Side-by-Side Introduced Themselves With Their Names - And the Aliens Reciprocated With Their Two Names in Circular Ink

• Ian proposed to nickname the two seven-footed heptapods Abbott and Costello [Note: The reference recalled the clever dialogue of the memorable sequence between comedians Abbott and Costello, known as "Who's on First?" in their comedy film The Naughty Nineties (1945); their rapid-fire hilarious conversation conveyed the idea that communications can easily be misunderstood - one of the film's major themes.]
• the two were tested at the base for radiation poisoning, but there were no signs of illness, except for being tired from overwork; they would be allowed to continue to communicate with the aliens without their helmets and suits; the exchange of names was considered: "significant progress"; henceforth, Louise had an intensifying number of 'flashbacks' or 'memories' of her daughter - she began to have more and more haunting visions and 'memories' of her child Hannah
• during a lengthy voice-over narration (by Ian) - he summarized some of the findings of their scientific research, although much still remained shrouded in mystery; the shells emitted no waste, gas, or radiation, and didn't seem to communicate with each other; and it was unclear - why did they park themselves across the world in twelve remote locations?; he mentioned how Louise's linguistic analysis had interpreted that the aliens used a palindromic 'language':
  • "Unlike all written human languages, their writing is semasiographic. It conveys meaning. It doesn't represent sound....Like their ship or their bodies, their written language has no forward or backward direction. Linguists call this 'nonlinear orthography,' which raises the question, 'Is this how they think?'...Imagine you wanted to write a sentence using two hands, starting from either side. You'd have to know each word you wanted to use, as well as how much space they will occupy. A heptapod can write a complex sentence in two seconds effortlessly. It's taken us a month to make the simplest reply"
• on the 25th Day of the "Alien Crisis," the first picture of one of the aliens was published and it went viral; critics feared environmental contamination and government mishandling of the crisis, and some were worried about a full-scale alien invasion; alarmists on talk radio proposed showing aggressive force against the creatures; the main question about the intergalactic aliens for the researchers and military became - were they friendly and peaceful, or were they threatening foes?
• one of Louise's shocking 'memories' was of Hannah showing her school's project drawing she had made of an imagined TV show involving two people; young Hannah explained: "That's you and Dad. The show is called 'Mommy and Daddy Talk to Animals'" - Louise began to mention to Hannah that her 'Mommy and Daddy" (Louise and Ian) had split up: "You know it's okay to be sad that your Dad and I..."
• [Spoiler: This was a premonition of Louise and Ian having a daughter named Hannah together in the future, before they separated; by this time, Louise had experienced the alien encounter with the heptapod 'animals' in her past with Ian, and Hannah knew about it! This was conclusive evidence that Ian and Louise fathered Hannah who was born after the arrival of the heptapods - including the fact that Hannah's death, due to illness later, was going to be fateful and inevitable.]
• at this stage, Louise was unaware that she was developing new perceptions and abilities, including a rewiring of her brain and the ability to travel through non-linear time - in other words, mental time-travel that provided access to future times; in a conversation between Ian and Louise, Ian hinted that she might have already been transformed by learning the aliens' language - at least in her dreams or memories:
  • Ian: "I was doing some reading, uhm, about this idea that if you immerse yourself into a foreign language, then you can actually rewire your brain."
    Louise: "Yeah, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis....the theory that, uh, it-it's the theory that, uh, the language you speak determines how you think and.."
    Ian: "Yeah, it affects how you see everything. It's uh... I'm curious, are you dreaming in their language?" (a bird was heard chirping as Louise answered)
    Louise: "I may have had a few dreams, but I don't...I don't think that that makes me unfit to do this job"
• Louise was alerted by Colonel Weber to the fact that there were threats of military action and global war against the aliens by Chinese General Shang (Tzi Ma) and the Russians who were following suit; Louise became worried that the Chinese were mistranslating what they were learning from the heptapods who had landed in their country at Shanghai - she conjectured that this might have resulted from their interactions with the aliens using tiles from the competitive Ma-Jongg board game: "Every idea expressed through opposition, victory, defeat" - unfortunately, they were misreading or misinterpreting that the aliens wanted conflict or war-action due to the game's perspective: ("Every conversation would be a game")
• during Louise's next encounter with the aliens, she asked about the purpose of their visit; one of them replied: "Offer weapon" (or "Use weapon") - Louise believed this was a misinterpretation about what the aliens were thought to be offering humans; Louise thought that the words: "offer weapon" could also be translated as "tool" or "technology," and that they were using a word that wasn't being fully understood; Ian added that it might be an offer of exchange: ("And it's quite possible that they're asking us to offer them something, not the other way around. It's like the first part of a trade"); Louise suggested an immediate follow-up meeting with the heptapods to clear things up

		CIA Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg)
Aliens' Message - Initially Interpreted by Louise as: "Offer Weapon"

• war-mongering CIA Agent Halpern (Michael Stuhlbarg) even suggested that the aliens were calling for war: "We have to consider the idea that our visitors are prodding us to fight among ourselves until only one faction prevails" - although Louise said there was no evidence of that; a global international crisis was threatened when China and Russia went "off the grid," and the US followed suit; the Montana base-camp went offline, and all interpreters (Louise and Ian) and international liaisons were ordered to stand down; Chinese General Shang issued a statement: "China no longer trusts the aliens who want to divide us"
• Ian and Louise - against orders to cease all activity and communications with the aliens - reentered the spaceship for another session (# 37) with Abbott and Costello; Louise transmitted the message: "Offer weapon, question mark," and paraphrased it: "Are you offering us something?"; Ian also read off other alternative words that could be substituted for weapon: "Technology, apparatus, method?"; the two discovered that the word 'weapon' had been mistranslated, and should have been 'technology': "Yeah, see, this is a different word"; Louise retransmitted the phrase: "Give technology now" and Abbott responded by tapping loudly on the glass; Louise interpreted that Abbott wanted her to write on the glass barrier; as she attempted to reach out with both hands on the glass, she felt the power of Abbott's limb surging through her, and was able to communicate back to the alien using its circular language - the alien response to her writing covered much of the glass and was very complex

Countdown to Bomb Blast Inside Spaceship - Louise and Ian Ejected

• suddenly, the two heard gunfire outside; fear of the aliens had led rogue soldiers to plant a bomb (with a countdown timer) inside the spaceship; the bomb drastically damaged the relationship that Louise and Ian had now established with the aliens; just before the blast, with Abbott's help, they were ejected from the chamber and out of the entrance to the spaceship; they were rendered unconscious (with concussions)
• the base-camp was being evacuated and preparing for possible retaliation, but Louise wanted to go back inside the ship to explain to the aliens how it wasn't their fault; at that moment, the team heard a rumbling noise and watched as the alien spaceship rose up to a higher, less accessible position a half-mile up in the air, although Louise noted: "Well, they're not leaving"
• on Day 27 of the "Alien Crisis," it was reported that Chinese General Shang was on the offensive; he had delivered an ultimatum of declared war against the aliens - that they had to leave Chinese territory within 24 hours or else they would be attacked; panicked forces, including Pakistan, Sudan, and Russia also sought war with the aliens (considering them a threat)
• Louise experienced another 'flashback' of young Hannah asking for the term that meant making a mutually-satisfactory deal; Hannah rejected Louise's suggestion of the word "compromise"; Hannah explained how the word she was looking for referred to a competition where both sides ended up happy; Hannah wasn't happy with Louise's 2nd 'un-sciency' suggestion of the term "win-win"; Louise proposed: "If you want science, call your father"
• although it was an almost impossible task to decipher the meaning of the last complex message sent by the aliens, Ian (with Louise's help) made the remarkable discovery that they only had a part (1/12th) of a more complete message that needed to be pieced together like a puzzle; each of the 12 alien spacecraft had a unique part of the message that needed to be assembled or stitched together to make sense ("We are part of a larger whole")
• in consultation with Col. Weber and other leaders, Ian and Louise described their realization that the alien heptapods were actually forcing the human race to work cooperatively to discover the entire message; to get everyone to cooperate and share their data, Ian recommended that the US offer the other 11 nation their data: "We offer ours in return" - he called it a "non-zero-sum game" - the exact phrase that Hannah had been searching for in the previous scene
• outside, Louise watched as a small shuttle was sent down to the ground to transport her back into the spacecraft; she was allowed to enter the ship alone and mingle privately with Costello in a white misty atmosphere; Costello wrote to her that Abbott was dying, due to the bomb blast: ("Abbott is death process"); she sincerely apologized: "I'm sorry. We're sorry"

Louise Alone in the Spaceship with Costello: "Abbott is death process"

• after Louise asked for a message to be sent to the other 11 sites, she was repeatedly told that she already had the "weapon": ("Louise has weapon" and "Use weapon"), but she didn't quite grasp or understand it; the alien then clearly explained their true intentions and mission: "We help humanity. In three thousand years... we need humanity help"; the aliens were sent to give humans the gift of their language (their "weapon" or "tool"); by giving humans (specifically Louise) their language and perception of time, in exchange (in the "non-zero sum game"), humans could understand the aliens' technology and help them in 3,000 years time, due to the heptapods facing extinction; their offer of a "weapon" was their language

"We help humanity..."	"In three thousand years..."	"...we need humanity help"
The Aliens' Gift of Language in Exchange for Help in 3,000 Years

• Louise was still utterly confused and asked about the visions she had of her daughter ("Who is this child?"); the film's plot twist was revealed when the alien confided in Louise that she had already been given a complete understanding of the alien language - which meant that she had their "technology" or "tool" ("Louise sees future") - she was actually able to see or experience non-linear time (the past, present, and the future) ; there were two more 'flashbacks' - Hannah had created a clay image of one of the bluish heptapods, and a full view of her drawing depicted a 'canary in a cage' - a reference to a warning miners received deep in mines about the safety of the air they were breathing - and to the actual canary brought into the alien "shell"
• Louise now fully realized that her 'memories' of her daughter Hannah were NOT flashbacks, but premonitions or flash-forwards; that meant that her visions of Hannah were premonitions of her future birth and short life (and also were of Louise's earlier experience of meeting the heptapods with Ian); the film had been misleading up to this point, tricking viewers into believing that Louise's grieving pain was due to her daughter's past death; however, now it was clear that Louise was perceiving time as a whole - she could see future events as clearly as she could remember past events
• after the life-altering revelations, Louise was deposited back on the ground, and was picked up by Ian and Col. Weber; she was informed that they had orders to evacuate, due to the brewing war; she couldn't explain what had happened to her: "I'm trying to figure it out. This is too big"
• Louise began to experience more and more 'flashbacks' of her time with Hannah - who asked her: "Are you gonna leave me like Daddy did?...He doesn't look at me the same way anymore"; Louise admitted fault: "I told him something that he wasn't ready to hear....And he said I made the wrong choice," and explained to Hannah how she inxplicably knew what was going to happen in the future: ("It has to do with a really rare disease. And it's unstoppable")
• as Louise was being rescued by Ian, she confused him with the statement: "I just realized why my husband left me" - although he knew she wasn't married ("You were married?"); meanwhile, all around the world, the egg-shaped shells assumed a horizontal position
• in another 'flashback,' Louise explained to Hannah why she was named Hannah. Her name was deliberately chosen as a palindrome - there was no beginning or end to her name. It could be read the same, forwards or backwards; she also had a remembrance of opening up a box with her future book titled: "The Universal Language - Translating Heptapod" - with a dedication to Hannah; it was based upon her experiences with the aliens; she would advocate for a better understanding of how to interpret or translate the alien language, and how it actually improved and bettered the world
• Louise suddenly realized that she could understand the aliens' language; although everyone was about to be lifted off from the evacuated base-camp, she explained to Ian and Col. Weber that instead of viewing time linearly, the aliens saw time as spherical; their language opened time ("Weapon opens time"), changed humans' linear perception of time and allowed them to experience 'memories' of future events:
  • "I know what it is...It's not a weapon. It's a gift. The weapon is their language. They gave it all to us. Do you know what that means?... If you learn it, when you really learn it, you begin to perceive time the way that they do, so you can see what's to come. But time, it isn't the same for them. It's non-linear"
• after deciphering the aliens' language, she found herself with the ability to 'time-travel' to the future, where she had a premonition or vision of conversing with General Shang at a United Nations reception about global unity -- 18 months into the distant future; the General thanked her for convincing him to back down from war and suspend military actions: ("You're the reason for this unification, all because you reached out to me at my private number"); when she said she didn't know his private cell-phone number, he showed it to her; she understood: ("I called you, didn't I?"); he revealed how she had succeeded in changing his mind and ending the conflict: ("I will never forget what you said"); he repeated to her his wife's dying words (in Chinese Mandarin): "In war there are no winners, only widows"

		In the Present, Louise Phoned the General With His Wife's Dying Words To End the Conflict
In the Future with Chinese General Shang, Louise Received His Private Cell-Phone Number and His Wife's Dying Words

• then after returning to the present time, Louise relayed these same dying words to General Shang using a sat-line to make an unauthorized call to his private cell-phone number; she was surrounded by armed soldiers but was able to complete the call
• to everyone's amazement including the news media, the General called for an emergency press conference to declare a "stand-down" and an early withdrawal of all forces; China and other countries agreed to disarm and work together; the alien spacecraft began to peacefully disappear into misty skies around the world
• Louise reacted in voice-over:
  • "So, Hannah. This is where your story begins. The day they departed....Despite knowing the journey and where it leads, I embrace it. And I welcome every moment of it"
• the film's final lines (spoken without seeing their lips move) were spoken by Louise and Ian during the final minutes of the closing down of the military camp; the violin melody in this last sequence was palindromic; the two understood their future fates, and realized that they had purposely been brought together; Ian would become her husband, and they would become the parents of Hannah; and even though Louise knew what would happen to Hannah (an incurable terminal illness), she still chose to bring forth a new life:
  • Louise: "If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?"
    Ian: "Maybe I'd say what I feel more often. But I-I don't know. You know, I've had my head tilted up to the stars for as long as I can remember. You know what surprised me the most? It wasn't meeting them. It was meeting you." (They hugged)
    Louise: "I forgot how good it felt to be held by you."
    Ian: "You wanna make a baby?"
    Louise: "Yes. Yeah."
• unfortunately, Louise knew that after Hannah's birth, Ian would leave her because she didn't initially tell him about her knowledge of their daughter's fate; she had explained to Hannah why her relationship with Ian was doomed - it was because of a lack of communication; earlier (and afterwards), she had realized that she had withheld pivotal information from him about Hannah: "I told him something he wasn't ready to hear"
• the palindromic film concluded with the title and credits; as seen in the film's opening sequence - the beginning and end of the film, Louise left from the hospital room where Hannah had just died and entered into her near-empty university lecture room