Steven Spielberg's DISCLOSURE DAY

  

Thus far, the Donald Trump administration decision to release previously classified information about UFO (or UAP as we are calling them now) sightings have turned up nothing more than black and white footage of fast moving points of light in the sky. It's true that the movements of these objects shatter our laws of physics, and personal, mystified accounts by pilots who have been eyewitness to these events makes us all ponder what the heck is out there. It's no wonder that the eternal question of "are we the only ones" in this vast universe keeps coming back to the forefront. Since these latest "disclosures" have done a pretty bad job of clarifying long-held secrets, and a great job of raising even more questions, it is up to Steven Spielberg to set the record straight. 

Listen, you unbelievers: Yes, there are beings out there who have visited the Earth! And yes, even some have crashed landed (despite their supposed superior aeronautics); and yes, the United States government has recuperated the bodies of extraterrestrials in Roswell in 1947; and YES, the government has also done a whopper of a job denying it all. In essence, this is the premise of Steven Spielberg's latest film Disclosure Day, a rollicking adventure chase thriller that explores the mythology of UAPs. What makes the movie irresistible is that this time around he never lifts the foot off the gas pedal. Luckily, the latest governmental releases may have incidentally drummed up business for the film. Trust me, it didn't need it. When Spielberg makes a movie about aliens you run to the theater to see it on the big screen. You don't wait for it to stream at home.

At the risk of giving away too much of the plot, the movie opens with Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), a kind of whistle blower who has in his possession video drives of many UAP sightings and actual evidence of aliens. He is being chased by Noah Scanlon (a bearded, memorable Colin Firth -- looking a bit like an older Orson Welles) who heads the Wardex Corporation. He and his men are all dressed in black. That's all you need to know. They are, undeniably, the bad guys. 

When it comes to exploring the flying saucer mythology Spielberg, throughout his career, places its visual landscape right along Catholic iconography. You see it in the Sacred Heart of Jesus transformed into the glowing chest of the lovable alien in E.T. The Extraterrestrial, and in the welcoming spread arms of an alien in Close Encounters of the Third Kind -- a kind of redemptive crucifixion. In this film he continues this theological imagery through the character of Daniel's girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) who is, not only a former nun, but during a memorable interrogation scene by Noah, she takes off her crucifix necklace and holds it so tightly that it cuts into the palm of her hand giving herself a stigmata worthy of St. Catherine of Siena or St. Francis of Assisi.

 At the heart of the story we find further religious allusions through the character of Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a Kansas City TV weather announcer who one morning, after a Northern cardinal flies inside her apartment window, she begins talking in tongues (Russian? Ukrainian?).  In Catholic theology this red bird represents the blood of Christ, and is traditionally thought of as a messenger from heaven and a bridge between the earthly and spiritual realms. When she suddenly begins talking in an unknown language on live TV like Christ's apostles did on the Day of Pentecost, she becomes a wanted person by Noah, and thus ignites her run for her life.

But don't get the wrong idea: Disclosure Day is by no means a mere treatise on the mystical aspect of extraterrestrials. It is an exciting pre-summer movie in which Spielberg uses his mastery of pacing and slow disclosure to guide us through a story that visually contains many throwbacks to his past films, and even includes a train crash as a homage to the one in Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth, one of Spielberg's childhood favorites as we are led to believe in his autobiographical The Fabelmans.  

What about the aliens? Oh, they are there, but you'll have to wait a while to see them. Everything is explained, especially the mysterious Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), who throughout the movie is seen surrounded by people building what looks like a theatrical set for a suburban middle-class home.

The film concludes with a one word imperative. Maybe it's not the word I would have chosen, but it is clear that the meaning it tries to convey is that we must demand integrity and transparency from our government. Spielberg has always been a believer, and his films have shown just that, and he knows that his audience share in his search for the truth. 

Believe! At the risk of sounding like a Christmas advertisement for Macy's, maybe this should have been the last line of this exciting film.