‘Well-mannered aliens’ make contact in Venice

A group of civilized if many-legged aliens makes contact with the world in “Arrival,” in competition at the Venice film festival Thursday, and it’s up to Amy Adams to figure out what they want.
Adams, the US star of “The Master” and “American Hustle,” plays expert linguist Louise Banks who is brought in by the US Army to help translate what the knobbly-kneed creatures are saying after alien pods pop up worldwide.
Banks may speak everything from Farsi to Mandarin but this modern-day version of first contact — a staple of alien films since ET’s “phone home” in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic — leaves her temporarily stumped.
Predictably, the global powers argue among themselves and a group of “rogue” nations with China at its head decides that in order to save humanity they should blow these gentle if enormous creatures out of the sky.
It’s up to brave Banks to put her life on the line, and in doing so she uncovers a secret that will change the world in an act of intellectual heroism that may well put modern language degrees back on the map.

Source: Arab News