Movie review : E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

image source : http://www.impawards.com/1982/e_t_the_extra_terrestrial_ver3.html

E.T. PHONE HOME. 
One of the most memorable lines that everyone could remember when we talk about the film, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. The film is directed by Steven Spielberg in 1982. It is an American Science fiction fantasy film and it was originally from a science fiction novel written by Mellissa Mathison. The casting of the film included Henry Thomas, Ribert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, K.C. Martel, Sean Frye, C. Thomas Howell and Erika Eleniak. Henry Thomas act as Elliott, Robert MacNaughton act as Michael, Drew Barrymore act as Gertie, Dee Wallace act as Mary, Peter Coyote act as "Keys", K.C. Martel, Sean Frye, C. Thomas Howell act as Greg, Steve and Tyler, Erika Eleniak act as the girl Elliott kisses.

Synopsis
In a dark forest, there is a UFO landed. The aliens walked down from the UFO to the forest to collect specimens. Suddenly, there are strange lights and sounds causing the aliens to run back to UFO while only one of them is lost and he has to hide in the forest. A group of men are led by a man who has a bunch of keys hang on his belt, searching for the alien. Unfortunately, the alien couldn't make it back to the UFO. Hence, he had to find a safe place to hide himself. So, he sneaked into the backyard of a house.

There is a young boy called Elliott who is on his way to collect pizza for his brother and his friends. When Elliott is returning, he heard some noise from the backyard. He goes to the backyard and throws a baseball into the shed but he is scared when someone is throwing it back. After that, Elliott rushes inside the house and tells everyone but they find nothing in the shed. In the late evening, Elliott hears strange noise again. Elliott and the alien are scared by each other. The alien quickly run into the forest.

The next day, Elliott rides his bike to the forest by taking a bag of Reese Pieces. He hopes to find the creature he saw yesterday by using the Reese Pieces. When he saw the man with a bunch of keys on his belt is in the forest, he quickly leaves the area.

When Elliott is having his dinner with his family, he gets into an argument with his family because no one is willing to believe him. Elliott hurts his mother feelings who has just been through a divorce with his father and his brother, Michael scolds Elliott for being cruel and rude.

After the argument, Elliott stays at the backyard. Suddenly, the alien shows up and returns him the Reeses Pieces that he left in the forest. Elliott brings the alien into the house and up to his room. In the next day, Elliott fakes to have a fever so that he can stay at home. He starts to tell the alien his name and shows him different things in the house. When his brother, Michael and his sister, Gertie are back, he shows them the alien and they promise not to tell anyone about the alien.

When they realize that this creature is an alien, they try to make him to explain where he comes from. Instead of speaking properly, the alien shows his power, it causes some spheres to line up and rotate like the planets in the solar system. The alien also revives a potted plant with dying flowers which is given by Gertie.

Elliott has to hide the alien inside his closet for the next day as everyone has went to school. The alien gets out from the closet and opens the fridge, looking for food and he drinks several beers before watching the TV. Elliott didn't know that the alien has formed a mental bond with him, this cause him to feel what the alien feels. After Elliott returns home from school, he finds that Gertie has taught the alien to talk. Elliott decides to name the alien, E.T. E.T then tells Elliott that he wants to go home. He shows Elliott on how to build a machine to communicate with his planet, so that they can come and get him.

In that late evening, Elliott and his brother go to the garbage to search for useful items to build the machine. Michael notices that E.T doesn't look well but Elliott explains that E.T is fine. Without their knowing, there is a van monitoring outside their house and has recorded their conversation.

After they collect all the items for the machine, Elliott dress E.T up in a white cloth to lie to their mother that it is Gertie dressed up as a ghost. Gertie already left before they go with Elliott's bike and go to a specific point in the forest. Once they gather at the specific point, Gertie and E.T exchange their places with each other. Both Elliott and E.T go to assemble and use the machine to communicate.

In the next day, Elliott wakes up in the forest alone. He is afraid and worries about E.T. He returns home where his mother has been afraid that something bad had happened to him. Elliott then asks Michael to find E.T. Michael goes to the forest and finds E.T barely breathing lying down near a storm drain.

After getting E.T home, Elliott and his siblings show E.T to their mother. E.T is breathing shallowly inside a bathtub, Elliott tells his mother that he and E.T are sick and maybe dying soon. Their mother tells them to leave E.T and get out of the house immediately but the government men already seal off the house quickly and set up a medical unit to examine Elliott and E.T.

Among the government men, there is the man with keys hanging on his belt and we call this character as "Keys". "Keys" tells Elliott that they have found the machine in the forest, he hopes to know how to save E.T. Elliott explains that E.T needs to go home. When they are talking, the mental bond between Elliott and E.T breaks down and E.T is died. Michael realizes this when the flowers that E.T revived is wilting and dying.

Before they take away E.T, "Keys" tells the medical team to allow Elliott to have some time alone with E.T. Elliott says that the E.T must be dead because he can't feel any connection between him and E.T anymore. Elliott tells E.T that he loves him. When he turns around, he sees the dying flowers are reviving. Elliott looks back to E.T and finds him alive. Elliott quickly hide E.T to hide the fact that E.T is alive. He plans to get E.T back to the forest.

With the helps of Michael and his friends, they take Elliot's bike and theirs to a playground at the top of a hill. Michael and Elliott steal a van with E.T.'s container and drive their way to the playground. After meeting with Michael's friends, they take E.T to the forest. The government men chase them until E.T shows power and causes the bicycles to fly and head to the forest.

When they land and the night comes, UFO ship lands too. Elliotts mother and Gertie show up afterward. Gertie and Michael say goodbyes to E.T. E.T asks Elliott to come with him but Elliott says he need to stay. E.T gives Elliott a hug and he lights his finger and points it at Elliott's forehead, saying that he'll be right here.

At the end, Gertie gives E.T the plant that he revived before he goes into the UFO. The UFO soon lifts off leaving a rainbow behind and everyone is staring into the sky.

synopsis credit to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/synopsis

The main theme of the movie is friendship and love. It is about how a child deals with parents' divorce. Steven Spielberg was inspired when he was at Tunisia filming for raiders of the lost ark, while picking up fossils in desert, this reminded him the ending of Close Encounters, where the scene when the alien left the earth, he wondered what will happen if the alien choose to stay. Besides this, he also mentioned that he has a "different" childhood compared to others. His parents divorce in 1960 and this made Steven Spielberg wanted a friend who can listen to him to fill his void. The main hero of the movie, Elliott, who has the similar family background and situation with Steven Spielberg when he was a kid (Spielberg, 1982). Elliott befriend with an Alien, Elliott and his siblings helped the Alien to return home without being noticed by their mother and the government.

The setting and background of the film is around the family and friendship. It is also a mysterious film as the light using for the film was dark, not bright enough and it used extreme close up shots on the character "Keys" to show his mysterious feeling for the entire movie.

Close-up scene with dark lightning

Most of the scenes in the film are taken by medium shots and close up shots to show the facial expression of the actors during conversation and to establish mood but there are also some extreme long shots used. For example such as when the Alien was lost and chased by human in the dark forest, this scene was taken by using long shot to establish the feeling of loneliness and the feeling of fear. 



Besides this, I was so impressed by one of the scene where the main hero, Elliott was riding a bicycle with the E.T. and he was shouting "A HA" in the sky. This scene was also taken by using long shots technique to show how happy and amazing it was.



It's not my first time to watch this movie but it is still such a nice movie for me to review it. I still remember the first time I get to know about this movie is when I was a kid, about 10 years old I guess. When I watched the movie 3 or 4 years ago, I don't really get the meaning behind the movie, I just simply think that it was a great movie. I used to think that it was a funny and heartwarming movie until now I realized that it was actually a sad story, at least for me. Spielberg (1982) said that the character of E.T, the alien was actually an invisible companion for every children during their childhood but this companion won't stay long. We have to let go and learn to grow up to become an adult. For example like in the movie, no matter how much Elliott was unwilling to let E.T go, he had to do so, E.T told him that he'll be right here for Elliott. Letting go doesn't mean you give up, it's about growing up from the past.

Sountrack list in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial                  Length

1. Three Million Light Years from Home       2:57
2. Abandoned and Pursued                             2:58
3. E.T. and Me                                                4:49
4. E.T.'s Halloween                                         4:07
5. Flying                                                          3:20
6. E.T. Phone Home                                        4:18
7. Over the Moon                                            2:06
8. Adventure on Earth                                     15:06

Mostly the soundtracks are produced by John Williams. 

In conclusion, I would like to recommend this movie to everyone. It is suitable for everyone no matter what age, religion or gender, as long as you love scientific fiction story. This is a good movie to watch together with family. It won't let you disappointed if you prefer a heartwarming science fiction movie than a science fiction movie that has a lot of shock scenes.