The 2016 science fiction film Arrival is directed by Denis Villeneuve and the screenplay is by Eric Heisserer.It stars Amy Adams as Louise Banks, Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly, and Forest Whitaker as Colonel G.T. Weber and Michael Stuhlbarg as Agent Halpern.
At the beginning of the film aliens invade the Earth at twelve locations around the world in India, Africa, United Kingdom, Russia, China and United States. The film is set in Montana which is one of the locations the aliens invade and a linguist named Louise Banks is consulted by the Army to decode the language the aliens speak. A physicist named Ian Donnelly is also consulted by the Army to decipher complex mathematical formulas.
Banks and Donnelly meet the aliens inside the space ship which they enter through a portal. The aliens want to communicate with humans but the language they speak consists of complex circular symbols which signify meanings that humans cannot understand. The aliens who are called ‘heptapods’ have seven limbs and offer humans help in the form of a powerful language which transcends time and enables a person to see the future and the past. The aliens want something in return for their assistance which is the help of humans 3000 years later.
The Chinese wrongly interpret the aliens’ message ‘use weapon’ as a provocation and shuts down communication with the other countries the aliens have invaded and declare war on the aliens. But Banks correctly interprets the word weapon to mean tool and language is the weapon that the aliens are referring to and communication is necessary.
When Banks interacts with the aliens and decodes their complex symbolic language she sees visions of her own future. The visions that Banks sees about her future are very real and she is not hallucinating. There are certain individuals who can foresee the future in visions, dreams and premonitions. The film is full of suspense and explores a form of time that is not linear through the language of the aliens.