Review of Arrival (2016) by Drew C — 16 Feb 2017

Arrival is a film that opens your mind to lofty concepts such as the nature of time, geo-political affairs, and of course, language.

The plot, stripped down, is about a woman named Louise whose life purpose is to receive 'the universal language,' from the aliens who visit earth. She passes the language on to humanity in a mass produced book called The Universal Language.

In Louise's communications with the aliens, we see the theme of time recur again and again. The aliens write in sentences that are wrapped in symbols, all of which resemble a ring, or more accurately, an ouroboros, which is a snake eating its tail. This ancient symbol represents the cyclical nature of time. Birth, life, and death is a repeating cycle.

But the story introduces us to a new way of thinking about time. Perhaps a less pessimistic way. In the story, the words "language" and "weapon" are used interchangeably by the aliens in such statements as, "weapon opens time." And "use weapon." Alternately, "language opens time" and "use language.".

And the caveat the aliens give humans with the gift of the universal language, is that in 3000 years the aliens will need the humans' help. For what, we don't know.

What we do know is that the two greatest task we face as humans are 1) curing aging, and 2) interstellar space travel. Both of the these task will come with a new way of thinking about time and that is what the movie offers at it's most basic level.