Disclosure Day
What if Aliens were real? What if the government and a shady organization knew and were torturing them for parts? That’s the question Disclosure Day drops you into. Spielberg’s latest alien flick isn’t really about the aliens; it's about our ability to empathize and listen.
Disclosure Day follows two humans chosen by the aliens and gifted with abilities: one to understand humans and one to understand the aliens. They aim to help reveal the aliens that the shady company Wardex has been trying to hide.
Disclosure Day is a Sci-fi adventure from Steven Spielberg, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo. It has similar vibes to Super 8, District 9, or Arrival. From here on out, I’d say there will be spoilers, so watch if you want, but don’t say I didn't warn you. So let’s get into it.
Steven Spielberg is a director whose films I have loved to watch, with Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Catch Me If You Can, and Hook being some favorites of mine. Disclosure Day is a sci-fi film, so I was intrigued by what the goal would be and how he would tackle this story. The film had some overarching themes about government and corporate control of information, questioning religion, and facing childhood trauma. The cast, mixed with the story and typical Spielberg spectacle of amazing visuals, was a beautiful sight to see.
The cast is filled with some heavy hitters who didn’t surprise me due to the fact that I know they are all great. Emily Blunt plays Margaret, who can find out everything about a person just by looking into their eyes. She is what the aliens used to communicate with humans because her ability allows her to communicate with anyone and help them understand how to interact with them in a way that makes them listen. Daniel, a whistleblower, played by Josh O’Connor, is given the ability to understand complex information, whether that be math or even alien languages. He is on the run from the government, and even though he isn’t qualified for his mission, he knows how important it is to get this information out, but it needs to be at the right time. Colman Domingo plays Hugo, who seems like the one planning all this, only for you to find out he works for Disclosure. His experience working for Wardex has given him insight into how they operate and how to evade them. Henry Lloyd-Hughes is Casper, who was on the ground leading the chase against Margaret and Daniel, and I did wonder why he was not affected by Margaret in the film, which the film never explains. Colin Firth is the villain, Noah, who is the head of Wardex and wants to keep abusing these aliens and stealing their technology, and tries to stop the others from knowing what he knows.
Daniel and Margaret were both dating people, and I had different reactions to both of them. Eve Hewson portrays Jane, whom we meet early on, because Daniel is saving her because she had just been captured and tortured by Wardex as leverage against Daniel. She was a ride-or-die and decided to join him instead of staying at the covenant. I felt bad because later, Noah violated her by taking control of her body, which left her feeling useless in the fight and a liability, but in the end, she ends up being the saving grace by delivering the device to Margaret so they can broadcast. Jackson is Margaret’s boyfriend, played by Wyatt Russell, who was overall a shitty boyfriend. She asked him to watch her audition tape, and he couldn’t even sit through it and be supportive. Later, with her experiences, she asks him to support her, and he lies to her, which really just pissed me off. These relationships mirror the bigger theme of empathy and listening because Jane chose to do those things and stick by Daniel’s side, while Jackson decided to do neither and only look out for what he thought was best, not what Margaret thought was best.
Themes in this film really had my brain thinking and made me question things in the film, but also in real life. There was an interesting theme around Margaret, who wasn't trying to get people to fight and cause a distraction so she could do what she could do, but instead she used empathy to connect with them, which was a beautiful way to contrast with the way the government and Wardex went about things. The film asks how religious people will react to seeing something that shatters traditional beliefs, and wonder if it will cause people to abandon God and look at aliens as deities. It makes you ask why governments and corporations work so hard to keep secrets instead of being more transparent. It also made me think about them using torture and abuse to get answers about things they don’t know, which is just awful; like, why do they have so much unchecked power? I love when movies bring up themes that mirror reality, but also themes that make you question things and really get your brain going.
Part of the story revolves around releasing these raw and unedited files, which, in this day and age, made me think about the Epstein files, which were heavily edited before they were released. Anywho, in this film, Daniel has the files and wants to release them, but is told to hold off, which I thought was very important. The goal was to get as many eyes on this as possible, and a relative nobody releasing the files would get lost on the web, so it's smarter to come up with a plan to release them in a way where all eyes are on it, like on the news. This was the perfect way to show how their abilities benefited what the aliens want because he understood how everything works, but Margaret understood how to communicate that info in a way that would get humans to really focus on it. It was great to show that there is a proper way to go about this, and it's going to be a team effort.
There were hints about something happening in their childhood, and I had been waiting to find out what it was. I’m glad we see how they had actually met before, and both were given abilities by the aliens. We see how the abilities were just dormant until it was time, and in order for them to embrace them, they needed to face their past. This was also a great way to show the importance of the animals, which were used to gain trust, because we learn that they are actually aliens in disguise. The alien reveal was released in a clip before the movie came out; while the scene was cool, it would’ve been better if it was a surprise reveal since that’s the climax of the film.
The film ends with the single message “Listen,” which I had to sit with and got the gears in my head turning. How I interpreted it is that we should be listening instead of being so reactive. All the disagreements are causing so much violence against each other and leading to war and destruction, where we are destroying ourselves and the planet because we fail to listen to others and what’s going on, and empathize with them.
Spielberg delivers a movie that makes the viewer think about their role in this world, and listening may be more beneficial than you may think. It’s an interesting take on dealing with extraterrestrial life, which Steven Spielberg has some familiarity with showing on screen. It’s a beautiful movie and really got my brain thinking about how humans would react to all this information, but really everyone may just need to stop and listen.
