Trust the Light, by Travis Fishburn

“Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.”  -Mark 10:15

Last week, I splurged on buying a few Blu-Rays from Amazon.com. One of these was Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I had been postponing buying this particular Blu-Ray for a while, but, in anticipation of J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 being released in a few weeks, I thought this would be a perfect time to revisit the film and add it to my collection.

It had been a few years since I had seen the movie and anticipated being once again awed by the beautiful visuals and classic Spielberg tropes. What I found was a story that really spoke to me about the idea of faith, and how our desire to seek out answers in our life can lead toward spiritual rejuvenation.

The film follows a number of characters exploring the meaning and significance of various UFO sightings all over the earth. Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut) and his interpreter, David Laughlin (Bob Balaban), are investigating the appearance of various large objects (such as fighter planes and freighter ships that have been missing for decades) being found in peculiar places around the world. Meanwhile, in the United States, we see Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) and her son, Barry (Cary Guffey), being exposed to many strange encounters with UFOs in rural Indiana. In the same town we also see family man, Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), encountering the UFOs and sharing an experience with Jillian and Barry as they watch the objects fly over the quiet nighttime countryside. The experience affects the characters in ways that they cannot explain, and soon Roy and Jillian cross paths again as they each search for the meaning and purpose of what their shared experience is doing to them.

I would say that many (if not all) of Spielberg’s adventure and science fiction films are made with the intention of inducing the audience into a state of childlike wonder and excitement. Close Encounters not only falls in to this Spielberg characteristic, but also epitomizes it. The film explores just how amazing it can be to revert to having the awe and faith of a child. This youthful imagination and enthusiasm is what first got me interested in movies as a child, and remains very much the heart of what I seek out in movies to this day. Yet, the older I get, the more fleeting and rare those imagination-filled and wondrous movie experiences are that I would once encounter on a daily basis as a child.

In the same way that my childlike approach to watching films has faded, so too has my unquestioning faith in God. I still have a strong faith and spiritual relationship, but it is much more of a challenge than it used to be. In the same way that I chase my childlike movie-watching experiences, I also pursue the unquestionable spiritual faith that I had when I was less world-weary. As I sat watching Close Encounters, I saw a reflection of the way I try to approach that faith, and in the way that each of the film’s characters approach their fascination and curiosity with their alien visitors.

The first character is Barry, Jillian’s 3-year-old son. While the UFO sightings frighten Jillian to tears, Barry can’t contain his fascination and curiosity for them, and he runs off in pursuit of them. Barry is the embodiment of everything youthful and naïve, chasing the unknown with no doubt about his own safety. He hasn’t experienced the heartbreaks that life has given most people, and therefore, he isn’t afraid to seek out the truth when his own curiosity urges him to do so.

The second character is Roy. He is portrayed at the beginning of the film as a man with a family and responsibilities, yet showing off that he’s really a big kid deep inside. After the encounter he faces with the UFO, he runs home in a rush of energy and excitement, getting his wife and kids out of bed and taking them out on a fruitless mission to see the UFOs again. The experience begins affecting him in ways that he has no way of explaining, and he becomes obsessed with finding out what its meaning and significance is. Roy is a veteran of living out his life in this world. He is rational and responsible, yet he becomes exposed to something he knows to be magnificent and extraordinary, and it unleashes a childish desire in him to risk everything he has in the quest of more of it.

Claude Lacombe is the third character. While he doesn’t personally have an encounter with the visitors in the way that Barry and Roy do, he chases any lead on them that he can find in the hopes to do so. He travels from one country to another, never finding them, but always discovering the undeniable effects that they have left in their wake. Lacombe doesn’t quite have the ingrained childlike faith that Barry and Roy have. He’s chasing the answers based on his own intuition and rational mind, yet yearning to know more and to have an experience like theirs.

In each of these three characters, I find three examples of my own perception on faith and the natural human curiosity to seek out answers in a world that seems to give nothing but questions. I think that the most common type of faith in Christianity, or at least the one I relate the most with, is Roy’s. Roy has grown up and has probably come to terms with the disillusionments he had as a child. He hasn’t lost his youthful imagination, but it’s been buried and discouraged by his adult experiences and responsibilities. In a nutshell, it’s become harder for him to keep the amazement that came so easily to him as a child. After a powerful emotional and spiritual experience, Roy is given a new lease and vigor on his faith.

Roy has gotten a small taste of something much more powerful and wonderful than himself, which raises a slew of questions within him, while also giving him glimpses of the answers he seeks. Roy’s family and neighbors see what’s happening to him and think that he’s going crazy. He’s rational enough to admit that his behavior is fanatical, but following it is something that he knows is right and it’s what he must do. Roy’s pursuit eventually leads him to Devils Tower in Wyoming, where he finally crosses paths with Lacombe.

It is obvious that Lacombe wishes Roy no ill will, and is desperate to find out more about his experiences. However, they both know that it isn’t something that Roy can properly explain; it is something that one must go through firsthand in order to begin understanding. While Roy is whom I often find myself as when my spiritual faith is on the stronger side, when it is weak and I’m struggling I find myself sympathizing with Lacombe. He is logical and intellectual, probably dealing with his own skepticism in his heart, yet he sees the effect that this wonderful divine relationship has on others and he wishes he could undergo it himself. There is something about it and his approach to it that causes this thing to constantly elude him.

The film comes to a nighttime eye-popping visual climax on a base that has been built in front of Devils Tower to welcome the alien visitors. The mothership vessel marvelously appears and lands, opening its doors and filling the scene with a bright, illuminating light. The ship’s inhabitants file out, one of which is Barry, who was taken from Jillian earlier in the film. Barry is unscathed, and refers to the visitors as his friends. His youthful and naïve faith has paid off and benefited him.

It is revealed that a group of humans will board the vessel and voyage off with it. Roy instinctively knows that it’s what he had been called here for from the first instant the ships made contact with him. As he waits to meet his new friends, Lacombe approaches him and says “I envy you”. Lacombe knows that Roy is going somewhere magnificent and breathtaking where he cannot go right now, but perhaps he will get the chance one day.

Roy is the first of his group to step out and approach the ship. He greets the small creatures with arms outstretched while the light from the ship spills out and envelops him. He pauses and takes one last look back, knowing that this might very well be his last moment on Earth. Yet, he knows that he’s going to the place where all of his dreams and desires have been leading him and where all of his questions will finally be answered. With the light covering him,  he embraces that there is no reason for him to have any fear as he steps aboard the vessel and leaves our world.

In the supplemental materials, Spielberg says that the image that has always stuck in his mind when he thinks of the movie comes from the scene in which Barry is abducted. Jillian is terrified of the lights and the visitors, trying to hide in every corner where no light can reach her or her baby. Yet Barry wants to know more and has faith that everything will be fine, or even better, in the light. He approaches the front door and opens it up, exposing them both to the beautiful and mysterious orange light that spills in from the outside. Spielberg states, “For me that was very symbolic of what only a child can do, is to trust the light.”