By William Gensburger
4/5 Stars Minor Spoiler Alert
Steven Spielberg’s latest film, ‘Disclosure Day’ has received mixed reviews, generally falling into one of two camps: viewers loved it or hated it.
So why the dichotomy?
Fundamentally, the movie is a chase movie. One of the central characters played by Josh O’ Connor, has stolen extraterrestrial proof of how the government had captured and interrogated extraterrestrials since the 1950s. The information had been held by an NGO, a non-governmental organization, which essentially means a government organization, in secret. He wants the information released to the public.
The other main character played by Emily Blunt, begins to exhibit, weird skill sets and starts recognizing things she doesn’t otherwise know with talents she does not even remember.
O’ Connor’s movie girlfriend played by Ewe Hewson is caught up with him as they try and escape long enough to expose it all on television. Colin Firth plays the bad guy head of the NGO. Colman Domingo plays the head of a resistance group fighting for disclosure.
And yes, there is a shiny object that many call the McGuffin, a term used for a movie cheat that acts as a glue.
Now this is where I believe the differences in viewers, opinions emerge. First off, the title implies disclosure of extraterrestrial proof, aliens, in all their glory, and what that would mean for mankind, especially since the lead-up of this being the culmination of Spielberg’s career implied that it would be almost like a sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or ET, the Extraterrestrial movies.
Of course, this is not the case. And while we do see aliens, especially at the end of the movie, they are not the main focus of this movie. The main focus is government deception and exposure of the truth, and the struggle to prevent disclosure to the public.
As a chase movie, it’s totally fine. There’s a lot of action from the get-go, which doesn’t end until the end of the movie. Characterizations are also fine, with an interesting mix of personalities, both positive and negative.
Some criticism about the disclosure method seems accurate in this technological age of social media over television, and why the disclosure could not have just been uploaded to the internet, where it would have received a wider and more rapid result. This is likely because Spielberg is old school, and his movies always seem to run the same trajectory. Getting it to a television station takes longer, thus better for a movie.
Other criticism lies with the religious undertones that many interpret as anti-Christian, whereas, in truth, the film offered two sides of that argument, including the question of whether our God is just our God or also the God of other lifeforms throughout the galaxy. Anyone having a problem with this, I feel, is overreacting to a philosophical point that even the nuns in the film seem to understand better. Of course, Spielberg didn’t help matters by stating the film could make Christians question their faith.
And yet a third criticism lies with the television station control room, which seemed inaccurate by today’s standards. It’s a movie—let it be!
The other angle to explore is that the general public is already well-versed in aliens, with endless social posts about the different types, hidden histories of our species, and more. This makes surprising us ore difficult. Spielberg alone has been responsible for most of the peaceful ETs in film.
The music was John Williams who, at 93 years of age, still manages to create some beautiful music, although not as striking as his earlier iconic works.
I enjoyed the film. First, it was entertaining without propaganda thrown at me. Some people disagree, claiming that the bad guys were white and the good guys black; the usual nitpicking that wasn’t an absolute anyway. For a two-and-a-half-hour film, time passed quite quickly.
The last 15 minutes were the best, and I wish that there had been more time spent on that, as it was the dessert we had been waiting for through the rest of the film. The final line spoken also left many annoyed, as it was difficult to interpret what it meant. Or not!
In short, ‘Disclosure Day’ was just that, getting the truth out there. Nothing more and nothing less. And for me, that made it a good movie. Spielberg is an excellent filmmaker. Films are meant to entertain. Documentaries are meant to enlighten. My advice: go and enjoy it.
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