Spielberg’s New Film May Not Be His Best, but It Is the One the World Needs Now

Trailer for the film "The Discovery" / Tulip Entertainment Rating: 4 stars out of five / Walla system, image processing

In one of the most beautiful moments in "The Discovery," Steven Spielberg’s new film, the famously Jewish director of our generation puts the most important answer into the mouth of a nun. One of the characters asks her something like this: given that we are the crown of creation and made in the image of God, does God love only us, or does he also love the aliens? The woman of faith quotes the Book of Genesis to say that all this applies only to our planet. Here, God loves us more than the deer, for example, but what about those who live on other stars? He loves them just as much.

Spielberg allows himself to determine a few things here: that there is a God, that there are aliens, and that God loves them. This illustrates the ambition of "The Discovery," which may not be his best film, but is certainly one of his most ambitious. At 79, after a glorious career spanning more than 50 years in which he has asked many questions, it is time, in his view, to provide the answers. His answer regarding the existence of aliens is, of course, not surprising. Belief in them has stood at the center of two of his most iconic films, "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." In both, he also presented them differently from how cinema had done before: not as bloodthirsty invaders, but as true, peace-loving friends. His adaptation of "War of the Worlds" changed that conception by portraying them as aggressive and murderous, but the director later explained that he used them as an allegory for the September 11 attacks, since the film was released shortly afterward, in 2005.

If viewers in outer space did not accept the apology at the time, they will certainly accept it now. In "The Discovery," Spielberg presents them more positively than ever, as beings who are far more deserving of God’s love than we are. The result is an ode to acceptance of the other, to speaking the truth, and to making peace. Unlike "E.T." and other hits by the celebrated filmmaker, this is not a film that will change the face of cinema forever, but because of its spirit and its message, it is exactly the film the world needs now, and certainly the one Israel needs.

Spielberg’s long-standing obsession with the subject reaches its peak here. Drawing on extensive research, he broadens the scope compared with his earlier films and reveals everything that was supposedly hidden from us about visitors from outer space and their attempts to communicate with us. "The Discovery" will probably not win an Oscar, but it will win the best picture prize from the Alien Fans Association. They also enjoy spreading conspiracy theories online, including one that claims our friends on other planets use the filmmaker to send us messages. It is not certain that Spielberg is indeed the aliens’ messenger, but there is no doubt that he believes some may be among us.

In "The Discovery," there are two ambassadors of that kind, two characters who seem like ordinary people and appear to have nothing connecting them, but it turns out there is: the friends from other stars have chosen them to tell us the truth about them, and about ourselves. Will we be ready to listen?

One of them is a weather forecaster in Kansas City, played by Emily Blunt. The second protagonist is a cybersecurity expert played by Josh O’Connor. The film gradually reveals why precisely they were chosen and what is special about them, and shows us how their paths cross in a journey to uncover the truth. Opposing them is a government organization headed by a character played by Colin Firth, determined to stop them and their discovery.

Throughout his career, the veteran director has shown skepticism toward the establishment, and that too reaches a peak here, presenting the authorities as consummate liars and violent. Another director would surely have done this in a strident and venomous way, but with Spielberg even the criticism is coated in honey. Only he can make a film about government conspiracies and violence that is entirely free of cynicism.

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Emily Blunt, "The Discovery" / Tulip Entertainment

His best in years? Not quite

The first reviews published in America said it was Spielberg’s best film in 20 years. As an ardent admirer of the director, I find it hard to agree, mainly because in my view many of his films during this period were excellent. Some of them, such as "The Fabelmans," were written with Tony Kushner, one of the greatest American writers of our time, who is also responsible for the play "Angels in America." Here, Spielberg returned to working with a less brilliant and more polished screenwriter, David Koepp, who previously also wrote "Jurassic Park" and "War of the Worlds" for him.

The director was the one who approached him and asked him to develop the ideas he had into a story, and the gap is evident. The ideas themselves are fascinating, thrilling, and bold, but the story itself? Less so. Koepp is a professional screenwriter for better and for worse, and the plot here is fairly generic. At times it is also not coherent and requires a second viewing to make sense of it. More than once, the tension leads to an anticlimax, and the feeling is that the characters could easily have been replaced by others.

The film rises above itself only because of Spielberg. Because of the vision, the firm statements, the commitment to the subject, the extensive research, and the pacifist approach, and of course because of the directing skill. More than 50 years after reinventing the blockbuster with "Jaws," the old fox still has it. One action scene here is breathtaking, and the scenes dealing with encounters between humans and aliens are even more thrilling. They manage to create on screen a sense of magic that is not of this world, and of a heavenly spiritual revelation. These are moving and awe-inspiring moments. Nearly 50 years after "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Spielberg remains the child gazing at the sky, marveling at the stars and everything hidden behind them.

A discovery with a purpose. Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor from "The Discovery" / Tulip Entertainment

Even more Christian

And if we are already talking about stars, Spielberg, as usual, knows how to identify the hottest names of the moment, cast them, and get the best out of them: this is especially true of Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, who play the leads, and of Colman Domingo, who also plays an important character here that we will not describe in detail. And to return to the opening point, the scene-stealer is Elizabeth Marvel as the nun.

After dealing with his Jewish identity more than in the past in "The Fabelmans," and even portraying the antisemitism he experienced as a teenager, Spielberg hides here once again behind nuns, in what is one of his most Christian films. The choice is not surprising: who would incorporate Jewish elements today into a project aiming to become one of the summer’s biggest hits? It is not easy to be Jewish these days, and the truth is, it is simply not easy to be on this planet right now, no matter your identity.

"The Discovery" admits that the situation is bleak, but offers a glimmer of hope, the aliens, who are revealed here as capable of saving us from ourselves. If only this film could persuade them to come at last and save us. Come on, already, what are you waiting for?