Reply #27: When she "came back", those in power didn't believe her

[Terran]

Most of the evidence indicated she hadn't gone anywhere and they thought she was either lying or hallucinating. And in the congressional hearing that takes place at the end of the film, it does look like maybe no further visits will be done. But it's clear that The People, gathered outside around the DC Mall, DO believe her, want to believe her. In that sense, all those people gathered on the Mall, and by extension the whole world, "got something" too. Moreover, some concrete evidence is noted right at the end--that her video recorder recorded numerous hours of static, even though to the outside world she never appeared to have been gone at all.

So I can see why you might think that no further contacts were planned; but I think it's made plain that there would be some momentum to try again, because of public pressure if nothing else.

As to the fact that the whole experience is a personal one for the main character, well...that's what good fiction is about, quite often. If you wanted a hardware-based space opera like Star Wars, Contact is not your film; but it's very much a story of personal growth set against a science-fictional background. The idea is to be drawn to the character as much as to the drama of the alien contact itself. Such films are rare. "Signs" was similarly good in that way, I thought.