Review

Review Date: 11-September-11
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Contagion (2011)

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind readers that in a few months we'll welcome 2012, the year during which, according to Hollywood, Earth will go haywire due to solar explosions. If you watch a lot of movies you might also expect doomsday in the form of extraterrestrials, asteroids, nuclear warfare, global warming, or even zombies. These scenarios are generally fun, with heroes rising, secret government plans unfolding, and a preponderance of silliness tinged with just enough realism to defy the label of "fantasy." And now we have Contagion, which concerns disaster by virus. It also entails heroes and government plans and a certain type of fun, but it adds a new level of seriousness to the concept. Director Steven Soderbergh has created the thinker's (or paranoid's) version of a big-budget doomsday flick.

Contagion speculates about what would happen following the global outbreak of a new and fatal virus. An all-star cast portrays the many tangentially but significantly associated characters, and this takes the place of silliness in softening the impact of the catastrophe. (Not to imply that the cast cannot depict actuality, but there's a degree of comfort in seeing handsome, familiar faces in horrible situations when you know that they're really filming their next movie or relaxing in a mansion somewhere.) The virus begins with the intersection of a bat, a pig, and Gwyneth Paltrow in Hong Kong and spreads at alarming speed. It kills within a few days and is transmitted with the merest surface contact, so millions die from one infected person within months. In the United States, scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (led by Laurence Fishburne) scramble to develop a vaccine, while overseas agents from the World Health Organization (including Marion Cotillard) trace the virus' origin. Two women from the CDC emerge as heroes: Jennifer Ehle (the Greer Garson of our time) as the scientist who makes a breakthrough after long toil, and Kate Winslet as a doctor establishing quarantine centers who wakes up alone in a hotel room with obvious symptoms of the disease. Meanwhile, everyday citizens like Matt Damon and his daughter try to stay alive by avoiding everyone else, including the rioters, looters, and bandits who come out of the woodwork after the safeguards of society break down.

In terms of the societal effect of the crisis, the movie also considers how information and misinformation are transmitted in much the same way as the virus. A man films one of the earliest victims dying on a public bus and posts the video on the Internet, where millions of frightened people turn for answers. A smarmy blogger (Jude Law) promotes conspiracy theories by suggesting, nay "proving," that the rich and powerful are hoarding the vaccine and suppressing the news that a simple herbal extract is a cure. The idea of transmission is, in fact, central to Contagion. I doubt Soderbergh aims to spread panic, but he clearly wants viewers to think about the film as they move about their day. Shot after shot of people touching shared surfaces — handrails, restaurant dishes, each other's bodies during greetings — raises awareness of our connectedness even in an age when communication is accomplished primarily through electronic devices. With such power to affect audiences, Contagion may become viral in itself.

Copyright © 2011 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.