Steven Soderbergh’s latest thriller, “Contagion,” plays like a viral infection – swift and lethal. Not everyone is going to survive the virus run amok so count on some of the film’s incredible star power – Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, John Hawkes, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Ehle, and Elliott Gould to take a hit. Yet overall, it’s a smart, realistic, and sobering film about a global infection run rampant.
“Contagion” opens with a cough over a black screen. It’s Day 2. We meet Beth Emhoff (Paltrow) at an airport eating cocktail nuts and looking feverish. The film then cuts to a Hong Kong ferry where a young man is sick, next to a London casting call where a model leaves ill, then aboard a plane with an unwell traveler. These are just some of the vessels that will carry the contagion to all parts of the world in a single day. It’s a blunt look just how quickly a pathogen can travel.
As Beth returns home to her husband Mitch (Damon), her son Clark and step-daughter, Jory, Beth gets sicker. Soon she’s at the hospital and on the radar of the Center for Disease Control (CDC). From CDC, Dr. Ellis Cheever (Fishburne), Dr. Ally Hextall (Ehle) and Dr. Erin Mears (Winslet) take over in tracking, studying and trying to contain the disease. From the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Dr. Leonora Orantes (Cotillard) works backward to find patient zero and track its path. The military (Bryan Cranston and Enrico Colantoni) also steps in asking if the virus is mechanized, as an incredibly popular blogger (Law) claims this is all part of a government conspiracy.
Soderbergh and screenwriter Rick Z. Burns skillfully present a very real-life situation of a deadly viral outbreak, which also includes how much information to publically release about the outbreak, trying to contain the panic, and how to handle a potential societal breakdown. While making their last film, “The Informant!” Soderbergh and Burns did a fair amount of traveling and thought about how people get sick on planes. “Contagion” was born out of those conversations, Burns explains in the film’s production notes.
Fascinated, Burns jumped into extensive research and met with experts in the field of infectious diseases. In fact, W. Ian Lipkin, M.D., the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, designed the “potential” pathogen. Lipkin even created the 3D modeling seen onscreen for “Contagion.”
Soderbergh directs “Contagion” in a taut, crisp manner. Also acting as cinematographer, Soderbergh shot with the latest RED digital camera and utilized available light to give the film a documentary feel as it charts the viral path essentially from Day 1 to Day 135. The pacing is fast, just like the disease. Some viewers may not appreciate the quick global cuts and the lack of emotional time spent with the various characters. But isn’t that the point? In a global epidemic, everything is in fast motion, trying to stay one step ahead of the disease, the panic, and the bureaucracy.
Soderbergh, his talented actors and his production team do smart, believable work in capturing how a viral epidemic would play out in today’s world. As the film reminds us, the Spanish Flu of 1918 killed 50 million people, wiping out nearly one-fifth of the world’s population. Could a viral tipping point happen again? “Contagion” makes you wonder. It also makes you want to wash your hands a lot more often.
“Contagion” is 105 minutes and Rated PG-13.
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