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Readtime: 4 min
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From Jaws to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Raiders of the Lost Ark to Jurassic Park, you likely grew up ingrained with images crafted from the lens of director Steven Spielberg. With Disclosure Day, the master filmmaker returns to deliver universal truths, cleverly embedded within an engaging sci-fi mystery.
Children continue to look up in Spielbergian terror and wonder in Disclosure Day, but unlike so many of the director’s masterpieces, they’re not the focal point of this adult adventure. As a kind of spiritual companion to his 1977 sci-fi thriller Close Encounters of the Third Kind – the first of the director’s alien epics – this encounter continues the central theme of communication with characters who share an innate intuition and connection to a larger consciousness.
Spielberg Returns to the Cosmos with ‘Disclosure Day’
Inspired by the 2017 New York Times article ‘Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program‘, Spielberg initially wrote a 52-page story treatment (on his iPad), eventually enlisting frequent collaborator David Koepp to co-write the screenplay. Remember Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain (or the remake with The Rock)? This story seems to ask, ‘What if the kids from Witch Mountain grew up?’ Along with the other entries in Spielberg’s unofficial trilogy (Close Encounters and E.T.), Disclosure Day posits that extraterrestrials are the good guys, while humans live in the grey.
It’s a divisive entry in the Spielberg canon. Some are defending it as a return to form for the master filmmaker, while others are declaring it a dud. I’m more inclined to join the defence. This may not be Spielberg’s finest hour, but it’s a Spielberg nonetheless, and no one can orchestrate an action sequence better.
Spielberg wastes no time getting into the ring (literally) as Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is ruthlessly pursued by the Wardex Corporation and its villainous CEO Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) for the possession of classified footage. Meanwhile in Kansas City, Missouri, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) finds herself speaking fluent Russian after a visit from a red cardinal. When she launches into an unintelligible language of clicks and sounds mid-weather report, she too is targeted by Wardex. Much of the runtime is dedicated to an extended edge-of-your-seat chase, with O’Connor and Blunt at the centre of a government cover-up.
Beyond the obvious sci-fi comparisons, Disclosure Day has a surprising amount in common with the director’s last effort, the touching, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans – not to mention many other titles in the Spielberg oeuvre. The concept of ‘home’ continues to be central to the director’s work, with the idea of returning home linked to a return to knowing oneself. There’s also a fantastic train sequence that brings back a leftover idea from 1971’s Duel and is inspired by one of Spielberg’s foundational cinematic experiences, Cecil B. DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth.
Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor Power a High-Stakes Chase
Anchored by excellent central performances from Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, along with strong support from Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, and Colin Firth, Disclosure Day thrives in mystery but ends in a reveal that may stretch an audience’s capacity to believe.
Beneath the science-fiction mechanism, there’s also a human message here that has nothing to do with aliens. In arguing that humanity’s greatest strength is our capacity for compassion and empathy, the film also suggests that our growing inability to see one another with understanding is our greatest weakness.
As with the film’s marketing, eyes are central to the story. Acts of watching through direct observation, as well as on television screens or smartphones (a tired trope), raise questions about perception itself. And in the age of AI, is seeing still believing?
There are a lot of ideas at play here – the correlation between belief and faith, the power of memory, and more. Spielberg seems to ultimately ask us to reconnect with our core ability to empathise. If we were to do that collectively, what would we hear? Film fans will note the nod to Indiana Jones, courtesy of the Inn-Di-Ana Motel.
Four stars ★★★★ | Disclosure Day is in cinemas now
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