10 Smartest Decisions In Sci-Fi Movie History

4. Reciting The General's Wife's Dying Words - Arrival

Denis Villeneuve's mind-melting sci-fi masterpiece follows linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) as she attempts to communicate with an alien race that has descended upon Earth.

Banks eventually learns that the alien language will re-wire the brain of anyone who learns it and alter their perception of time, allowing them to experience "memories" of events that, by traditional cognition, haven't happened yet (including the birth and untimely death of her daughter).

With China threatening all-out war with the aliens if they don't leave Earth in 24 hours, Louise uses her new mastery of the language to perceive a future United Nations event, where China's General Shang (Tzi Ma) thanks her for convincing him to call off the strike by reciting his dying wife's last words.

In the present, having "learned" those words thanks to her newfound, non-linear perception of time, she's able to do as Shang said she did, calling him and reciting those words: "In war there are no winners, only widows."

As presumably the ultimate proof of the gift the aliens have given humanity - assuming that nobody else was able to hear the General's words - this convinces him to call off the attack. A genius move in a genius movie.