I think Contact is one of the top SciFi stories ever written. But, Sagan should have changed the ending. When the committee asks Ellie if they should take it on faith, she said have said no. "Send more people through. It's testable. If the results are repeatable, we'll have consensus without faith."
“Contact” is a very good movie. The actor who played the anti-science religious kook who blew up the machine we built using directions sent by an advanced alien civilization was Jake Busey. I have heard Neil deGrasse Tyson say it’s one of the best SciFi movies.