And I am not playfully throwing around the word “human” to show how the film is humanising the “aliens”, nor is it empty praise aimed at Steven Spielberg. There are two factions at loggerheads in the film: the whistleblowers who want to tell the world that they are not

The director narrates a scene from his movie that is a continuation, of sorts, of a sequence he filmed for his feature-length debut, “Duel,” in 1971.

As the race goes on, the movie veers between comedy and suspense, action and contemplation, the sounds of squealing tires mixing with sober interludes that touch on belief, reason, trauma, self-govern...