How do you talk to an alien? That’s the question at the heart of director Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 sci-fi hit Arrival, but this tale, as Entertainment Weekly wrote, is “far less interested in galactic destiny than the infinite, uncharted landscape of the human heart.”
When a dozen alien ships materialize in the skies, governments across the globe scramble to determine whether the huge, tentacled “heptapods” have come in peace or whether their startling visit portends something more menacing. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is an American linguistics professor tasked with deciphering their communications, with the help of physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) and under the guidance of Army Col. Weber (Forest Whitaker).
Based on Ted Chiang’s novella “Story of Your Life,” Arrival is less rock ’em, sock ’em alien adventure than a lyrical, even dreamlike exploration of the roots of language and how it shapes people, conflict, and cultures. Alongside those heady questions is a gripping race to save the world from the fear-driven violence — and, yes, miscommunication — that could destroy mankind.
EW is here to break down your questions about this Oscar-winning film, including who the heck that mysterious little girl is.
What was the aliens’ purpose in coming to Earth?
An alien spaceship in ‘Arrival’
Credit: Everett
Early attempts to decipher the heptapods’ intentions yield the phrase “offer weapon,” which China interprets as “use weapon,” driving panic across the globe. In fact, the heptapods have arrived to share a remarkable gift with humanity: their language.
Their help isn’t entirely selfless, of course; it takes Louise’s command of the aliens’ inky, circular communication symbols to learn that in 3,000 years, this alien race will need humanity’s help. To prepare mankind for that far-off day, the heptapods are giving humans an entirely new way of experiencing time.
The heptapods even built a unifying mechanism into their gift. Each spacecraft delivers one-twelfth of a larger message, requiring the countries studying them to work together to decipher it.
How on earth do the heptapods know they’ll need humanity’s help in the future?
The alien creatures in ‘Arrival’
Credit: Everett
Louise realizes the “weapon” the aliens are offering is actually their language, which allows those who learn it to perceive time nonlinearly. Just as their bodies, ships, and circular logograms lack a clear sense of forward or backward, the aliens experience time in this way, with future events appearing as memories.
Furthermore, humans who become fluent in their language will also begin to “remember” events in their own lives that have yet to happen. When one of the heptapods’ messages to humanity is translated as “There is no time,” it’s not necessarily the threat some nations perceive. Instead, it could be a reference to the aliens’ nonlinear experience of time.
Won’t it be difficult to convince all 12 nations to share their knowledge?
Tzi Ma in ‘Arrival’
Credit: Everett
Incredibly so! Each government used different methods to establish a shared language with the aliens, leading to a variety of logogram interpretations. For example, Louise suspects that China’s use of mahjong, with its focus on competition and winners and losers, has subtly shaped the heptapods’ communication with them.
A more aggressive approach to language could explain “weapon” being applied to the aliens’ gift of knowledge, when “tool” would also work. Add that to global tensions present even before the heptapods’ arrival, and what you get is an unwillingness to slow down and cooperate across borders.
As worldwide panic grows, China prepares to attack the aliens, and the U.S. begins evacuating its research site. Louise calls China’s Gen. Shang (Tzi Ma) on a stolen satellite phone and, in true time-loop fashion, passes along a message he will give her 18 months in the future. When Shang hears a stranger recite his wife’s dying words, he agrees to stand down and share China’s data with the other research teams. The rest of the world follows suit.
So who’s the girl in Louise’s memories?
Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams in ‘Arrival’
Credit: Everett
Although we initially assume the child in Arrival‘s opening moments died prior to the film’s main events, we eventually learn that Hannah is, in fact, Louise’s daughter who has yet to be born — with Ian, whom she doesn’t even meet until the aliens’ arrive. As she comes to understand the heptapods’ language, her perception of time changes as well — although she’s unaware at first of what’s happening to her.
We also learn that Louise’s knowledge that Hannah will die from a rare disease is what destroys her marriage to Ian. She initially keeps this knowledge from him. When she eventually confesses, he’s upset and insists she made the wrong choice — apparently, the choice to have Hannah in the first place, knowing what would happen to her.
Although the conversation happens off screen, Adams’ performance makes clear that Louise doesn’t regret choosing every moment of love and pain with Hannah, even knowing how the journey would end.
Despite her revelatory performance in Arrival, Adams didn’t receive an Oscar nod, which frustrated her director. “I’m deeply disappointed for Amy,” Villeneuve told EW the morning the nominations were announced. “She was the soul of this movie. For me, it was a given! She had the movie on her shoulders, she’s the one who made it happen.”
Was the aliens’ arrival actually Sheena Easton’s fault?
We’re glad you asked! While no one’s quite sure why the heptapods chose those 12 specific locations, Ian suggests it could be the low incidence of lightning strikes in places like Montana, Shanghai, and Sierra Leone — though there are exceptions.
Or, it could be that Sheena Easton had a hit song in each of those locations in 1980. The movie never clears this up, leaving viewers to decide for themselves if the aliens didn’t want to get fried or if they’re just huge fans of the song “Morning Train.”
Where can I watch Arrival?
Arrival is currently available to stream on Paramount+.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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