I hadn't heard too much about "Contagion" except for the all-star cast, notably the reuniting of three key actors (Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow) cast in "The Talented Mr. Ripley." Part of me thought to avoid the movie, thinking it will sensationalize and gross me out. And part of me was curious. I'm glad I saw it. Don't think I'll buy it on DVD, though. See trailer:
Basically the film is about the transmission of a super virus that quickly kills. You get a little bits of the story as doctors and scientists try to figure out what's happening and how the Centers for Disease Control tries to keep the population from panicking. You also get a dose of blogger spin, profiteering, kidnapping, blackmail, looting, insider protectionism, etc. The movie touches on the reaction to the swine flu pandemic two years ago, too. You also see a lot of germs getting passed around. People coughing, touching things, then other people touching those things. Makes you want to reach for hand sanitizer. A lot is going on, but the extreme craziness/hysteria found in blockbusters was missing. It felt realistic in many ways.
The film fascinated me, even though I felt it was a bit choppy. Side note: I didn't feel this way about another one of Steven Soderbergh's movies, "Traffic," which similarly tells the story from many points of view. That one is one of my favorites; I even bought it for my dad as a gift. The choppiness and multitude story lines made "Contagion" feel longer than 105 minutes to me. Personally I felt the story arc of the World Health Organization's doc (Marion Cotillard) didn't need to go beyond identifying the index patient. However, I assume this had to make the movie cut to get into the extremes a population goes through to get their hands on a vaccine.
I was nicely surprised with the movie's "balance" for Hollywood. Seriously. My guest leaned in and said he couldn't believe the government wasn't overtly the bad guy, as often is the case. The film has many shades of gray as characters worked out ethics and figuring out with this crazy new disease, but none of the stories were especially amazing. Some of it was clearly predictable. The only clear heroes, it seems, are the scientists, who defy protocol to figure out the virus, which then leads to the vaccine. As a former reporter, I enjoyed seeing the behind the scenes discussions focused on the spin.
Overall, I'd give the film a B-. The acting was solid and idea was good and timely. It influenced me to not touch my face until I washed my hands. I may start carrying hand sanitizer in my purse all the time and not just at touristy places.
As for the kids, it is a PG-13 film. Only you know what they can handle. It's scary in the sense that it is realistic. There are some disturbing images and language (don't recall anything too bad). Some things you should know:
Several characters die after getting sick. Some are shown convulsing before dying, and when dead, their mouths look sickly gross. One of the dead characters seen in close up is a child.
One character has their head cut open during an autopsy and you see some brain guts and a bloody squirt.
You learn a character had an affair.
You see people getting trampled as a riot breaks out at a store that runs out of some medicine and some fighting when the emergency crews run out of food.
You see several people buried in a mass grave.
Some discussion questions:
How did this make you feel about people coughing or sneezing around you and touching things other people touch?
Would you react the same way the father did protecting his daughter?
How accurate do you suppose the information on the Internet is? What sources do you trust?
Cheers!
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