When was the last time that you can
remember, when you sneezed? When was the last time you washed your hands? When
was the last time you touched your face with your hands? These might be trivial
questions at first, but it’s the major element to Contagion, the new film by
master craftsman Steven Soderbergh. When a new virus befalls us, what will be
the effects beyond simply the symptoms of the virus?
We start
the film with a woman (Gwenyth Paltrow), coming home to Minneapolis after a
work trip to Hong Kong and isn’t feeling well. As soon as she gets home, she
succumbs to a virus (I would’ve taken this as a spoiler, but its in the
trailer). The husband (Matt Damon) learns that he is, in fact, immune to the
disease. While this is a blessing in that his fear is lessened by his immunity,
he has a greater fear of the fall of society to the disease and fear,
especially when his daughter isn’t guaranteed immune.
Throughout
the film, we also see the many sides of the research of the disease. We have
the CDC working around the clock, its leader (Laurence Fishburne), doing what
he can to help those around him, including a researcher (Kate Winslet), who
goes into the disease ground zero in an attempt to quicken the research. This
also includes a researcher (Marion Cotillard), who goes to Hong Kong who
studies the path of the virus from patient 1 as well as becoming a captive
under those who fear the disease as society further collapses in fear. All
around the CDC, we have a blogger (Jude Law), who stops at nothing to tell the
world everything going on behind closed doors, further adding fuel the “fear
fire.” Will this virus halt? Is there
anyway to calm those who fear the mystery of the virus? Can survive events like
these?
Steven
Soderbergh is a genius behind the camera; I have enjoyed all of his work I have
seen so far. Where is masterpiece Traffic was a strong film exploring drug
trafficking, Contagion shows us the problems of the unknown virus, but this is
beyond what Traffic even dared try to show about drugs. We get a look at the
virus close up, seeing its effects on society, and not just to those who are
infected. Soderbergh crafts a strong film about illnesses as well as fear, and
does fine work here.
A great
thing about Soderbergh is his ability to find strong cast and technical
workers. Everyone in the film is fantastic, we truly feel the emotions they are
going through in this film, Jude Law in particular was rather effective as that
annoying man who does whatever he can to make himself famous, whether or not it
causes society itself to collapse. The script by Scott Z. Burns, who worked on Soderbergh's The Informant and the amazing Bourne Ultimatum, doesn't play it safe and balances the stories rather well and efeectively at that, with Soderbergh's direction as strong as it ever was. The music fits the film like a glove; it
really helps add to the severity of each scene and helps the flow of the film
stay intact. The film editing done by Stephen Mirrione, who also worked on Traffic (go figure), in my opinion, deserves some serious Oscar
attention. I can get rather critical about a film’s editing, but this film is
top notch, it kept the film moving along nicely and made sure that we got
everything we needed in each scene, it was really spectacular.
Indeed, I
would relate this film to Soderbergh’s masterpiece Traffic (one of my favorite
films), but Contagion takes it’s subject matter beyond simply giving us a
glimpse of the horror. You feel as though we have gone through the entire
epidemic first hand, which can disturb some. There were moments where I was
cringing a bit, but that isn’t enough to not recommend this strong film. Now,
to go wash my hands, who knows what’s been on my computer.
My Rating: ****/****
If you want to look for more information about the film, follow the link here for trailers, information about all those involved and much more, enjoy...
