Communion (1989) - Philippe Mora
Related: science fiction films - alien - 1989
Communion (1989) - Philippe Mora
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]Based on a book by Whitley Strieber, Communion is the story about a purported abduction by aliens. [Sept 2006]
Description
Was author Whitley Strieber telling the truth about extraterrestrial visitations in his bestselling book, Communion? Perhaps no one can really prove or disprove it, making the enigma of Strieber himself more interesting than his allegations. That's precisely the angle taken by this film adaptation, in which Christopher Walken's richly eccentric performance becomes a fascinating portrait of something more important than rumors of alien abduction--that is, human resistance and surrender to transformation. The script does an end run around the deductive process and research Strieber employed in his book to substantiate his claims. Instead, the story concentrates on the impact of those experiences on Strieber's own psyche: the disbelief, the repressed memories, the mounting helplessness and futility as the years go by.Walken makes it all terribly compelling, from his childlike compliance to the diminutive aliens who turn up in his home at night to an unexpected story climax in which Strieber demystifies the little buggers on his own surprisingly comic terms. The supporting cast is terrific, including Lindsay Crouse as Strieber's concerned wife, Frances Sternhagen as a doctor, and Joel Carlson as Strieber's son. This is not an offering that panders to today's alleged abductees, but rather a study of a sole survivor who finds his peace on his own terms. --Tom Keogh
The abduction phenomenon
The abduction phenomenon is an umbrella term used to describe a number of hypotheses, claims or assertions stating that non-human creatures kidnap individuals—sometimes called "abductees"—usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. Many such encounters are described as terrifying or humiliating, but others describe them as transformative or even pleasant. Reports of the abduction phenomenon have been made from around the world, but have perhaps seen most mainstream attention in the United States.
Skeptics tend to doubt that the phenomenon occurs literally as reported, and a wide variety of alternate explanations have been proposed (see below). Rather, such skeptics often argue that the phenomenon might be characterised as a type of modern-day folk myth (like the historic belief in vampires).
The alien abduction phenomenon has been the subject of conspiracy theory and as such has become a staple of popular science fiction works such as The X-Files. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abduction_phenomenon [Sept 2006]
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