Andrew Patterson’s “The Vast of Night” is an inventive and captivating sci-fi thriller that draws inspiration from the unresolved UFO sightings and enigmas of the last century. It maintains a mysterious aura, propelling it forward as a period piece designed for contemporary viewers. Its enduring appeal and gripping nature stem from the clever use of self-imposed constraints, which subtly address the protagonists’ solitude and their ensuing camaraderie.
Despite the potential to become engrossed in the film’s rapid-fire adolescent banter and the complex revelations of military findings presented not visually but through telephonic conversations, the movie remains a tight and gratifying exploration of the fine line between mere concepts and their actualization as tangible realities. The film’s commitment to historical authenticity, through its dialogues and political nuances, aims to enhance the enigma it is wrapped in. This is despite its direct narrative that adeptly supports the film’s straightforward yet impactful themes. We will now attempt to deconstruct the film for you, focusing particularly on its conclusion.
The Vast of Night (2019) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
We are introduced to Everett Sloan, a disc jockey from Cayuga, New Mexico, in the 1950s, as he strolls through the gymnasium where a basketball game is about to take place between his high school and another local team. A comical mix-up occurs when an older gym custodian mistakes him for someone named Emerett, which slightly disrupts his tight schedule. Meanwhile, Everett nonchalantly displays his popularity through his actions.
Soon after, Fay Crocker, a lively and chatty classmate, approaches him to demonstrate her new tape recorder. They decide to test it, prompting Fay to overcome her shyness by interviewing some teachers in the parking lot. As they proceed, Fay reads aloud some science-related conspiracy theories she’s found, including two about electric cars. Another theory, suggesting phones could become ‘small televisions’ for seeing people during calls, is scoffed at by Everett, both oblivious to the reality that this technology would one day come to fruition.
The Mysterious Audio Signal
After discussing their evening, Everett heads to his night shift at the WOTW radio station, and Fay proceeds to her switchboard operator job, taking the rein from the woman already in there. While listening to Everett’s show, Fay’s attention is caught by a sudden, strange audio signal. Shortly after, she receives a call from Fielding describing an unusual wind-like occurrence in the sky, accompanied by a voice resembling a woman in distress.
Subsequently, the same signal disrupts the phone line, leading to a drop in network connectivity and failed attempts to inform her friends about the anomaly. Fay contacts Everett about the mysterious signal, which he replays and confirms as unaltered. He then appeals to his audience for any insights on the signal, broadcasting it live on air. After a period of waiting, he eventually receives a call from a listener who is earnest about disclosing the truth behind the audio signal, and his voice is finally heard.
Billy’s Revelation
The caller is a middle-aged man named Billy, whose voice we hear only through the call. Everett then airs his voice live for the audience. Prefacing with a warning that some may find his story unbelievable, Billy proceeds. He recounts his time in the American military, detailing a flight to a secret desert location, the journey obscured by the helicopter’s opaque windows.
The desert brims with experimental labs and has a sizable population, which seems to warrant its secretive nature. Moreover, he and his colleagues are cautioned that disclosing information about the project could “endanger America.” They are tasked with constructing a vast underground bunker, which they complete. This top-secret bunker is designed to accommodate a massive, unidentified object. As they depart from the desert facility, they intercept the same enigmatic signal on the plane’s radio.
Billy then mentioned that he developed a lung condition as a result. He suspects that this ailment was a consequence of his time spent in the desert, and he later discovered other cases where the military had buried similar cargo in clandestine locations. To his dismay, the same signal was detected in those areas as well. He then theorized that the sound could be a form of communication signal, one that is occasionally transmitted at altitudes beyond the reach of any human-made object. He tries to share more, but the call gets cut off momentarily.
When Billy calls back, he discloses that he and the other selected military personnel were predominantly Black or Mexican, a choice made to decrease their credibility with the public. Everett exhales, acknowledging that this might be his first extensive conversation with a Black person. Billy continues, explaining that a friend was able to record the signal and distribute copies to him and his colleagues involved in the projects. Additionally, one copy was passed to an Air Force member from Cayuga, whom Fay mentions has been deceased for quite some time.
Fay discovers that the individual’s tapes have been donated to the local library. She and Everett break into the library to retrieve the tapes. Concurrently, Billy’s communication is severed, and despite Everett and Fay locating a recording of an unsettling audio signal for broadcast, the radio station’s power fails. They rush to the switchboard office, where Fay receives several reports of an anomaly in the sky. Upon going outside, they meet Gerald and Bertsie, Cayuga locals pursuing the unidentified aerial object, which may be a UFO. They then get a call from an old woman who claims to have information about the object, but she insists they come to her house to discuss it. After instructing Gerald and Bertsie to meet them there, they quickly make their way to the address provided by the woman.
Mabel’s Confession (and Warning)
Everett and Fay drive to the address given by old lady Mabel, only to discover her as a frail, high-class woman uttering messages in an unfamiliar language. As Everett records their conversation, Mabel asserts that the objects seen hovering over the town are spaceships. She explains that they are crewed by aliens who use cryptic messages to hypnotize humans and carry out abductions. She suspects that the aliens are targeting those left in town while the majority are at the basketball game. Furthermore, she whispers that these aliens are behind humanity’s downfalls, such as alcoholism and war.
Mabel proceeds to share the tale of her son, born from a relationship with a man who left her unwed and pregnant, and the eerie supernatural occurrences involving a girl her friend introduced to her family when she was young, which later recurred with her son before he vanished. The exact sequence of them looking downwards and then upwards is imitated by her.
At that moment, Mabel requests to be taken to the alien ship to reunite with her son, who was abducted decades earlier. However, Everett regards the old woman with sheer disbelief, attributing her tales to her advanced age. He discreetly departs from her residence with Fay and proceeds to Maddie, her younger sister, who is under the care of a friend smitten with Everett. Subsequently, Gerald and Bertsie collect them in their vehicle. While in the car, Everett plays the tape recording, which induces the trance in Gerald and Bertsie that Mabel had described, resulting in a severe car accident. Shaken by the event, Everett escapes with Fay into the forest, carrying Maddie.
The Vast of Night (2019) Movie Ending Explained:
What Happens to Everett, Fay, and Maddie?
Navigating through the forest, they stumble upon charred trees and branches scattered on the ground and a vast opening above, suggesting a large object had plummeted through. Everett hesitantly acknowledges the reality of aliens, suspecting their presence nearby, watching and listening. Panic propels him and Fay into a sprint until they reach a clearing. Pausing to regain their breath, Fay notices an odd light behind the trees. Suddenly, a colossal flying saucer emerges, mere steps away, captivating them with its grandeur as it ascends to join a larger mothership above, stirring a fierce gale around them. The scene shifts to the gymnasium’s basketball game conclusion, with the crowd dispersing cheerfully, enticed by announcements of open refreshment stalls. Back at the clearing, the spaceship has vanished, and so have Everett, Fay, and Maddie, leaving only their footprints and a tape recorder lying abandoned on the ground.
The film’s conclusion, while visually literate in providing answers to previously unresolved questions, implies that Everett, Fay, and Maddie are abducted by aliens in a similar manner to Mabel’s child years prior. This serves as a stark reminder of humanity’s simultaneous fear and intrigue towards the unknown. The ending’s constrained, almost chamber-drama setting lends it a political undertone, with the Cold War era acting as a metaphor for governmental secrecy. This is echoed in Everett’s frequent references to the Soviets and Billy’s allusions to the same. The film’s narrative strength lies in its subtle thematic depth, seamlessly woven into an entertaining spectacle that captures the simplicity, loneliness, and boredom of small-town life, often romanticized by films in pursuit of normalizing the life within them.
