True Salvation?
These thoughts has been going through my head since I watched the movie with my husband. Keep in mind, I have NOT read the book so forgive me on the front.
When I saw Grace enter the crystalline tunnel that (soon to be named) Rocky made to bridge their ship, the rock formations reminded me of Devil's Tower in Wyoming. I've seen it in person and it's the centerpiece from an old film called "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Heck, even Grace made reference to the film by whistling? Humming? I forgot. The iconic tune from CEOTTK.
This got my thinking.
What if Rocky was the Devil?
Not in an evil sense. Yeah sure, Rocky the Eridian is weird but he is not malicious. He could've been easily demonized as the "other" by fearful humans. Perhaps the mission would've been screwed if the other two humans on board were still alive and were being militant idiots.
This reminds me of the quote "as above, so below" which comes from ethical hedonist Satanics (I.E. Do what you want but don't hurt other people). For Grace, he figures out that Xenon is a solid, up is down, lefty loosey becomes lefty tighty. Equal yet opposites.
Thank goodness that Grace is a science educator (think Bill Nye the Science Guy) so he was able to bridge the communication gap upon learning that Rocky is blind and verbally mute. Grace treats Rocky as an intelligent being worthy of dignity and respect.
If you can't explain a scientific concept to a 5 year old then you don't know the subject well enough.
Both Grace and Rocky may be polar opposites but they themselves are not bad people and they want to save each other's worlds. By making a (devil's) deal with each other, they are able to work together and become friends, not enemies.
I think the big lesson here is by learning and embracing the devil (inner demons forged by trauma or making friends with foreigners) instead of shunning them altogether, true salvation can be achieved instead of relying on a fearful shepherd for forgiveness for whatever mistakes we make as humans.
