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Of course, if you ask Spielberg himself, he is quick to insist thatallof his movies are personal.
The movie eventually rewards Nearys fanatical, single-minded pursuit of the truth.
The big finale ofClose Encountersgrants him a front-row seat to humanitys first meeting with life from another planet.
But that would be a vastly different movie, easier and less emotionally complex.
Perhaps that moment lingered in Spielbergs mind, too.
Nonetheless, its possible to see thissecondalien-centric hit from the director as a dramatic continuation of the first.
His absence haunts the movie, just as the other Nearys haunt the second half ofEncounters.
Spielberg modeled the character of E.T.
on an imaginary friend he invented as a coping mechanism during that difficult chapter of his life.
(Spielberg, at arecent anniversary screening of the movie, underscored this notion of redistributed responsibility.)
Yet Spielberg generously rewrites that earlier films ending.
He allows Elliott the good-bye the Neary children never got.
Still, theres something rather comforting about both movies.
And his children will be okay without him.
In the end, are these films shows of forgiveness for absentee fathers?
They look to the stars and find the outline of a broken family in the constellations.
