Oh Steven
Sodebergh. Oh how I love you. Ok, I am continuing my catch-up session of
recent(ish) films and this one was definitely high on my “to watch” list. Why? Because
I really, really enjoy the work of Steven Sodebergh. I know, he isn’t easy
watching. He has a penchant for all things slightly dark and disturbing and is
more than capable of putting that feeling across, through the screen, right
into your bones. Contagion is no different. In fact it is definitely one of his
spookiest yet.
Beth Emhoff
(Gweneth Paltrow) dies suddenly after a business trip to Hong Kong, her young
son dies the very next day. This may be considered a small event in the scheme
of things; however, there is a problem. Not only are the doctors completely
unable to figure out what Beth and her son exactly died of, the disease is
spreading. And by that I mean spreading all over the world, killing every man,
woman and child in its wake. The CDC and the WHO desperately try to analyse the
disease and figure out a cure. In the meanwhile, panic on a global scale sets
in and everyone, even bloggers like Alan Krumwiede start to chime in with
conspiracy theories and home remedies. The war for law and order in the world
has begun. It is being fought in a laboratory.
Now seriously,
this is what separates a “good” director from a “great” one: The ability to
take an almost mundane story but tell it in such a way that you are glued to
your seat, terrified. I mean come on, mystery diseases that threaten the whole
of humanity – how many times have we seen that one before? This is seriously
different though. Sodebergh primarily focuses on the “silent killer” angle. You
can be sure that every time the screen goes particularly quiet, something bad
is going on. And you know this in the pit of your stomach as well, you know
that sinking feeling. Quietly and slowly, the action unfurls on screen, and you
can’t even find it in yourself to yell “no” or something. It’s weird.
Oh the cast
definitely helps. I haven’t named everyone – which is unfair because the cast
is so brilliant – but other names I haven’t mentioned include Lawrence
Fishbourne, Matt Damon (who has put on a bit of weight I am sad to observe.
Maybe it’s for the film or something but it doesn’t suit him methinks), Kate
Winslet and Marion Cotillard. To be honest, you’d have to be a very special
kind of fool to make a bad film with a cast like that. But Sodebergh is
ANYTHING but a fool.
The other
brilliant thing the film does is play on the “six degrees” thing. You know, how
we are interconnected with the entire rest of the planet and everything. It’s a
particularly brilliant way to do it if you think about it. Because the disease
spreads through, you guessed it, touch. Your smallest action, brushing against
someone or handing someone something may suddenly make you responsible for carrying
the disease to your part of the world, killing thousands if not millions. If
there were ever a film to remind us that yes, a tiny event all the way on the
other side of the ocean could affect our entire lives, this is it. You will see
what I mean at the end of the film when the origin of the disease is revealed. I
mean, it actually made me stop and think.
And if this
all seems a bit like a bunch of old clichés think about it: this has happened.
Think about SARS, think about Bird Flu. I mean, ok, thankfully the disease was
stopped before it actually killed half the population of the world but you know…
The fact that the film is so realistic doesn’t “help” either. So definitely go
for it. It will make you think. It will make you shudder and curl up under the
covers a little more tightly than usual…
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