Even with Sci-Fi, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a movie that dove so deeply into showing math as the primary method used to solve the mystery of what people briefly saw in the sky over the Cincinnati airport. It would be interesting to get some feedback from actual mathematicians over the authenticity of the equations and line of investigation used by the characters in this movie. I definitely felt out of my depth as the two students, Derek (Alex Sharp) and Natalie (Ella Purnell) look into the phenomenon depicted in the movie. It follows the logic that was used in the movie, Contact, that if extraterrestrials tried to communicate with us they’d use math. Kudos to the filmmakers for showing that math can be a superpower and telling an interesting human story about a kid who won’t let go of what might be at the end of his search, even when he catches the attention of a government agency. As noted in YouTube, Gillian Anderson plays a role as Derek’s sometimes adversarial math professor and David Strathairn is the head of a government task force also looking into the phenomenon and hot on the heels of Derek. The full movie is posted in the link and embedded video. Enjoy.
Sources:
UFO (2018) | Full Movie ft. Gillian Anderson | Voyage (2023-12-04), https://youtu.be/o4x5MeGErWI?si=aOp6VwMD1BVIL6-m
