I took Spielberg a lot more seriously after his movie Munich because it wasn't one sided and earned him unwarranted criticism from influential Jewish groups. Since then I've heard many times by respected observers that both he and George Lucas make films that have a lot more fidelity to story telling then is traditionally perceived so I went back and watched Close Encounters last night.
There's a clear message that is still up to the minute if we consider the reasons why transparency is still being demanded, by many investigative researchers on the subject of UFOs. Why is the military hell bent on keeping a secret. Must be a buck or two in it at the very least.
As in the screen grabs above, Spielberg (always a stickler for detail) points towards Lockheed Martin as the main offender, and the U.S. military as clumsy and brutish in their attempts to dominate the show. There's also some nice touches like the use of an orb following the space ships on occasions conveying the transdimensional issues that accompany many first hand reports as well as the leitmotif of sound, music and gesture to illustrate that 3 dimensional language theme that crops up in many conversations from witnesses.
In the clip above Michael Jackson is alleged to have appeared at the 1.50 mark and the French U.N. character is modelled on French researcher (and now Silicon Valley supremo) Jacques Vallee interview below.