Review of Contagion (2011) by Rosco — 05 Oct 2011

A chilling and frightingly realistic cinematic experience. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Contagion focuses on the rapid progess of a lethal indirect transmitted virus that kills within days. As the ever expanding epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races against time to find a cure whilst trying to prevent mass panic that is spreading faster than the disease itself.

Soderbergh has obviously done his homework tremendously well heading into the film and his depiction shows the difficulties implicated from all angles from discovering exactly what disease it is they are dealing with, the problems finding a cure and the mass panic the epidemic would undoubtedly bring.

The film itself show sits brutality from the beginning with Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns home from a business venture in Hong Kong however two days later the collapses with a seizure, her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) rushes her to hospital however she ultimately dies with the doctors unable to pinpoint what actually killed her.

This sparks a series of deaths all over the death and prompts the entire worldwide meidcal community (including Marion Cotillard, Lawrence Fishbourne and Kate Winslet) into desperate action to find the nature of the disease, its cause and vitally, a cure but whilst also preventing mass panic.

However, the effects of the epidemic are soon felt throughout society as ordinary people struggle to survive in a society being ripped apart by fear. A recurring element smartly used by Soderbergh are the simple, everyday items and objects that are touched by the infected and become vectors to infect other people.

The film runs along smoothly but does require your attention but it also emotionally encapsulating in particular showing a Emhoff's fight to keep his daughter alive in a seemigly doomed society. The ending eventually reveals the cause of the outbreak and how it came into connection with human life.

Overall, as a disaster movie it excels as we have seen them all from natural disasters, global warming end of the world things but never before has their been a more genuine disaster movie. This won't be for everyone but its a tense, unnerving and frighteningly realistic.