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Brett McCracken | TGC<\/p>\n
Between\u00a0Close Encounters of the Third Kind<\/i>\u00a0(1977),\u00a0E.T.<\/i>\u00a0(1982),\u00a0War of the Worlds<\/i>\u00a0(2005), and now\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>, Steven Spielberg, 79, has been making alien movies for half a century. His latest may not be as cinematically groundbreaking or narratively focused as some of his earlier alien movies, but it\u2019s probably the timeliest.<\/p>\n
The film\u2019s release comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of War\u2019s launch of a\u00a0UFO website<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0declassification of (nothingburger) UFO files<\/a>, as well as a bizarre stunt in which the White House teased a sci-fi-branded\u00a0aliens.gov<\/a>, only for it to be a website about tracking illegal immigrants. Politics and entertainment are blurrier than ever, and\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u2019s \u201chow would proof of aliens undermine religious belief\u201d question is ripped from\u00a0recent sensationalistic headlines<\/a>.<\/p>\n Would the discovery of alien life really be faith-shattering? One character in\u00a0Disclosure Day\u00a0<\/em>(a former novitiate nun played by Bono\u2019s daughter Eve Hewson) argues, \u201cPeople will see [aliens] as deities. They\u2019ll stop believing in God.\u201d Another nun character is less threatened by the idea: \u201cWhy would [God] make such a vast universe, yet save it only for us?\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0speculative theological questions are intriguing<\/a>. But ultimately, the chief drama in\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u00a0isn\u2019t explicitly religious as much as epistemological. This is a movie about the battles over truth, information, and revelation. The antagonists want to keep the full truth hidden from the public. The whistleblower protagonists fight for full disclosure. Truth isn\u2019t proprietary, the film\u2019s thesis seems to be. It belongs to everyone and should never be blocked. Any act to disclose the truth, the film suggests, is an act of grace. Illumination is an act of love.<\/p>\n Disclosure<\/em>\u00a0Day<\/em>\u00a0weaves the stories of two primary protagonists: a Kansas City weather personality, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), who suddenly starts to speak in different languages, and a rogue cybersecurity expert, Daniel Kellner (Josh O\u2019Connor), who seeks to reveal a trove of top-secret government files. Both become vessels of an unknown power that ultimately drives them together. Along the way, they narrowly escape bad guys in a few well-executed action sequences.<\/p>\n But\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u00a0(rated PG-13 for language and some violence) isn\u2019t chiefly about the action or thrills. It\u2019s rather about ideas and intriguing questions. Are all the ideas coherent? Not really. The movie introduces more ideas and questions than it answers\u2014more mysteries than it has time to explain. But I\u2019d rather have a film that underexplains rather than the opposite. A movie that evokes wonder is more valuable than one that feels perfect.<\/p>\n Spielberg\u2019s Jewish identity has always deeply shaped his cinematic storytelling, and\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u00a0is no different. In a way, his abiding thematic interest in aliens could be read as a sci-fi reimagining of Judeo-Christian beliefs: a supernatural deity who interacts with humanity in astonishing, sometimes fearsome ways. The film\u2019s script\u2014cowritten by Spielberg and his\u00a0Jurassic Park\u00a0<\/i>collaborator David Koepp\u2014is unwieldy but full of fascinating biblical parallels and allusions.<\/p>\n Spielberg\u2019s Jewish identity has always deeply shaped his cinematic storytelling, and\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u00a0is no different.<\/p>\n The movie alludes to the New Testament in its depiction of \u201cspiritual gifts\u201d of sorts, like speaking or interpreting tongues, and performing signs and wonders, in service of advancing a new message the world needs to hear. The film\u2019s setting in an unraveling world full of \u201cwars and rumors of war\u201d evokes the apocalyptic scenes of Revelation.<\/p>\n But mostly,\u00a0Disclosure Day\u00a0<\/i>strikes me as a riff on Exodus. The world\u2019s population is enslaved in the \u201cbondage\u201d of withheld truth. The villain, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), is a Pharaoh-like tyrant who heads a secretive corporation (Wardex) devoted to keeping the masses ignorant. He\u2019s a hard-hearted man who often waffles between giving up control and reasserting it.<\/p>\n A seemingly supernatural force (aliens) intervenes, calling two chosen leaders\u2014Margaret and Daniel\u2014to be prophets, intermediaries, and deliverers in the vein of Moses and Aaron. They perform \u201csigns and wonders\u201d throughout the film, not from their own power but as vessels to display the supernatural power of the aliens. There\u2019s a device that functions like Aaron\u2019s rod in Exodus: a sort of talisman used to perform supernatural wonders. There\u2019s even a scene of hail!<\/p>\n Most of\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u00a0feels like an extended chase sequence that builds to the \u201cRed Sea\u201d moment of the actual Disclosure Day\u2014triumphant deliverance\u00a0from<\/i>\u00a0the bondage of ignorance\u00a0into\u00a0<\/i>the liberation of revealed truth. Throughout the film, Margaret and Daniel are led supernaturally toward that Red Sea deliverance in a way that echoes the pillars of cloud and fire.<\/p>\n Most of\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>\u00a0feels like an extended chase sequence that builds to the \u2018Red Sea\u2019 moment of the actual Disclosure Day.<\/p>\n Margaret frequently describes the feeling as being a \u201cpassenger,\u201d not the driver. It\u2019s not scary to her and she just \u201cgoes with it,\u201d like she\u2019s in a \u201cflow.\u201d This made me think of God\u2019s sovereignty and the freedom that comes when we surrender to his lead\u2014however unnerving it may feel at times. Indeed, Blunt\u2014whose acting here is the best of her career\u2014makes surrender to sovereign guidance look beautiful.<\/p>\n Notably, another character in the film explicitly references\u00a0Luke 22:42<\/a>\u00a0and Jesus\u2019s posture to his Father\u2019s will: \u201cNot my will, but yours, be done.\u201d The film evokes numerous Old Testament scenes of prophets and chosen leaders who do great things not because they\u2019re great but because they\u2019re willing. Margaret says at one point in the film, \u201cI will\u00a0not\u00a0<\/i>be anyone\u2019s religion.\u201d She\u2019s an instrument, not an idol.<\/p>\n It\u2019s compelling to watch characters moved around a high-stakes chessboard by a benevolent force, even as others are manipulated by evil forces. This is a spiritual battle. Will we be vessels for good or evil?<\/p>\n Some spoilers follow<\/em>.<\/p>\n A script\u2019s final line is often an interpretive key to the whole film. In\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>, the last word is \u201clisten.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n Given the film\u2019s Pentateuch allusions, \u201clisten\u201d made me think of\u00a0Deuteronomy 6:4<\/a>\u00a0(\u201cHear, O Israel . . .\u201d), arguably the central verse in Judaism. Even as it\u2019s spoken by an alien in this film, there\u2019s a clear parallel to the Judeo-Christian God of Scripture, a self-revealing God who graciously reveals, rather than hides, his character.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t see a \u201cSinai moment\u201d in the film. Spielberg doesn\u2019t specify whatever revelation follows the invitation to \u201clisten.\u201d The film ends merely by observing\u00a0that\u00a0<\/i>this alien form\u2014this God proxy\u2014speaks, wants to communicate with us, desires to self-disclose. This ending left me reflecting on the beauty and miracle of a God who initiates communication with us, illuminates our unknowing, and \u201cwill guide [us] into all the truth\u201d (John 16:13<\/a>). We can\u2019t know everything about God. We don\u2019t deserve to know anything. That we know some things is the result of sheer grace.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s beautiful moments of human-to-human communication (chiefly in Blunt\u2019s character) also made me marvel at the way we, God\u2019s image-bearers, reflect his relational, communicating character. As in\u00a0Denis Villeneuve\u2019s\u00a0Arrival<\/i>\u00a0(2016)<\/a>\u2014a \u201cbenevolent aliens\u201d film that feels like a clear reference point\u2014Disclosure Day\u00a0<\/i>celebrates the gift of communication, this miraculous means of knowing and being known, seeing and being seen.<\/p>\n Light and eyes are key visual motifs in\u00a0Disclosure Day<\/i>. Both speak to the wonder of communication as a bridge between the darkness of unknowing to the light of truth, from the fears and conflict wrought by misunderstanding to the hope and communion that clarity brings.<\/p>\n Disclosure Day\u00a0<\/i>is a sincere and hopeful film, but what\u2019s the source of that hope? Does humanity have the capacity to overcome its divisions and misunderstandings if it just prioritizes empathy enough? If that\u2019s Spielberg\u2019s hope, it feels naive. But I suspect his \u201calien intervention\u201d plot hints at the idea that humanity\u2019s only true hope is in the divine rescue story Scripture tells\u2014the God who doesn\u2019t leave humanity to walk in darkness but graciously shines a \u201cgreat light\u201d (Isa. 9:2<\/a>), who doesn\u2019t leave us to wander in the wilderness but graciously shows us the way (Deut. 1:33<\/a>).<\/p>\n Disclosure Day\u00a0<\/i>celebrates the gift of communication, this miraculous means of knowing and being known, seeing and being seen.Spielberg\u2019s Judeo-Christian Storytelling<\/h3>\n
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<\/i>\u00a0<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nDisclosed Truth as Exodus-Style Freedom<\/h3>\n
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<\/i>\u00a0<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nGod Who Reveals<\/h3>\n
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Earth-Shattering News<\/h3>\n