Next time you see someone on the streets looking like they might need medical attention, you just might want to think twice. He could be carrying a highly infectious disease with a near 100% mortality rate. At least, that’s what happened in Contagion.
Like any other medical thriller film, Contagion was highly anticipated. Warner Bros drummed up interest with clever advertisement schemes like the one shown in the video, but the actors of the movie could have carried the entire promotional campaign by themselves; Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Matt Damon (Bourne series), Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man) , and Kate Winslet (Titanic) all starred in the film.
Contagion is one of the few movies that is well-received by both critics and the audience. On one hand, it follows the typical plot of a killer epidemic thriller–someone gets infected from an unknown source and it spreads; millions of people die and the world and morals go to the dogs as scientists scramble to find a vaccine and/or a cure. But Contagion is different in that it focuses on people involved in different aspects of the story rather than just one side. The movie shifts from the stories of Damon’s character, a newly-widowed (his wife, played by Paltrow, is the first infected) father of a daughter who he intends on keeping safe at all costs; to Law, who plays an online blogger who believes the government is conspiring with pharmaceutical companies against the public for monetary gain; to Cotillard, an epidemiologist who is sent into the field to investigate and travels to China, where the virus originated. Likewise, the other stories are also weaved together smoothly. Winslet plays an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer also sent to determine the origins of the virus. Jennifer Ehle (The King’s Speech) is a WHO scientist working to find a vaccine, and Lawrence Fishburne is the CDC representative in charge of the case. The actors all receive equal screen time, and this is perhaps one of the film’s shortcomings. There simply wasn’t enough space to give the stars more screen time. All of the stars are solid actors and actresses, and one cannot help but feel a little gypped that there was not more of each in the film. They all give polarizing performances (and this could be what saved Contagion from being simply another cliche medical thriller) that leave you wishing for more, even though each character’s storyline is wrapped up nicely.
One thing that critics have praised about the movie (it is definitely worth praising) is how the film is scientifically accurate. The scientific facts are not only accurate, but are presented in a riveting way that is relevant to the storyline. Unlike other epidemic films that gloss over or even ignore the scientific aspect of their plots, Contagion stays true and even incorporates science into its story, even to the smallest details. Dr. Ian Lipkin, the movie’s consultant and Director of the School of Public Health for Columbia University, based the movie’s virus after one that still affects many today–the Nipah virus. “We used as our inspiration the Nipah virus, which in Malaysia in the late 1990s jumped from bats to pigs to humans, causing respiratory disease and encephalitis and resulting in more than 100 deaths before it was contained by quarantine,” he explained in a New York Times article. “My team built a 3-D model of our virus and then worked out how it would spread and evolve, how it would be discovered, how the public health and medical communities and governments would respond regionally and internationally, how vaccines would be developed and distributed.” Obviously, the film was thoroughly researched.
Other aspects of the film worth mentioning are the soundtrack and the photography. From the techno beats in the opening, to the softer tones during ‘Christmas’, to the eerie finale, each track captures the mood of the scene to perfection. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that the music creates half of the tension in the movie. The cinematography is also outstanding. From London to Hong Kong to even here in San Francisco, Contagion captures and showcases each city’s beauty and allows the audience to understand that the epidemic really is happening worldwide.
All in all, Contagion is a fairly good film that is worth seeing, even if you can predict what’s going to happen (there is a plot-twist near the end). The plot is nothing new, but the quirks unique to the film, as well as the talented actors and actresses (and good cinemetography), make you forget that. The film definitely caused a lot of buzz, and even the CDC released a statement around the time Contagion hit theaters. The CDC, to the public’s relief, is actually prepared for such a scenario and gave guidelines that we should all follow in order to stay healthy and potentially avoid the fate that millions suffered in Contagion–death. However, this does not mean the world is entirely safe. “Pandemics have happened before,” Lipkin warns. “And they will happen again.”
