This above-average 2011 disease thriller is one of director Steven Soderbergh’s most purely entertaining films. It’s fast moving and staunchly reality-based, although in the Coronavirus era CONTAGION no longer feels like fiction. A solid moneymaker in its day, it’s now, as of March 2020, one of the most popular movie downloads in the US, and its screenwriter Scott Z. Burns a widely quoted media figure.
The end credits say of the scenario that “It’s not if but when,” and CONTAGION can indeed be said to have predicted the future. Many of its depictions seem to have been snatched directly from modern headlines, such as the revelation that people can be contagious without displaying symptoms, warnings against touching one’s face, mass school closures and the need for social distancing, just as the film’s portrayal of a quickly prepared antidote and coordinated official response to the outbreak—and, for that matter, a fully functioning United States government—now seem like pure science fiction.
Inspired by the Sars and Bird Flu outbreaks of the early 00s, it’s about a deadly contagion known as MEV-1 that bears the impact of “Godzilla, King Kong and Frankenstein all in one.” Beth Emhoff, an American woman on a trip to Hong Kong (to have a clandestine affair), contracts the disease and, a couple days after arriving back home, dies. Her husband Mitch also contracts the virus but quickly recovers, although their young son expires soon after, followed by countless more persons around the world.
Among the CDC and WHO agents attempting to halt the spread of the disease are Dr. Erin Mears, her superior Dr. Cheever and their colleague Ally. Dr. Leonora Orantes, meanwhile, is sent to Hong Kong to see how Beth contracted MEV-1. In short order Mears contracts the disease herself while attempting to track down infected cases and Orantes is abducted by the leaders of a small Chinese village, who plan to use her as leverage in order to get a-hold of an antidote.
We also meet Alan Krumwiede, a rogue Julian Assange-like vlogger who claims to know a cure for the disease, and infects himself with it in order to prove his theory. This only adds to the mass panic as society breaks down, leading to rioting and martial law.
Soderbergh handles this panoramic narrative with a strong and assured visual style. He acted, as is his wont, as his own cinematographer (going under his standard nom de plume “Peter Andrews”), although this time around Soderbergh, unusually, didn’t edit the film himself, with that job accomplished quite ably by Stephen Mirrione (of GO, THE HUNGER GAMES and THE REVENANT).
Featured are lots of jump cuts and voice-over dialogue that impart a sense of terror and unease (and also, unfortunately, evince a hasty shoot). The sharp ensemble cast, with Kate Winslet as Dr. Mears (whose death has real emotional impact) being the undoubted stand-out, helps lend a human core to this otherwise scientifically based account.
On the downside, Soderbergh’s penchant for casting famous performers like Bryan Cranston, Elliot Gould and comedian Demetri Martin in small roles (in a run-up to spot-the-guest-star Soderbergh projects like LOGAN LUCKY and THE LAUNDROMAT) is a constant distraction. Also, it’s best not to go too deeply into the blaring techno score, which already felt dated upon the film’s initial release.
Fun fact: Steven Soderbergh himself supplies the vocals for the audio-only role of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lover.
Vital Statistics
CONTAGION
Warner Bros. Pictures/Participant Media
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Producers: Gregory Jacobs, Michael Shemberg, Stacey Sher
Screenplay: Scott Z. Burns
Cinematography: “Peter Andrews” (Steven Soderbergh)
Editing: Stephen Mirrione
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, Elliott Gould, Chin Han, John Hawkes, Anna Jacoby-Heron, Josie Ho, Sanaa Lathan, Demetri Martin, Armin Rohde, Enrico Colantoni, Larry Clarke, Monique Gabriela Curnen