Actual grade: 8/10
(For a full explanation of my grading system, check out this post.)
It's been a while since I reviewed my last film (I've been spending some time on the beach in NC), so I'm excited to get back to it! I started off the fall season this evening by watching CONTAGION, a very deft thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh (TRAFFIC). I was excited by the director, all-star cast, and pulse-pounding trailer. I love stories about epidemics and mass panics and the end of the world (28 DAYS LATER, THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, THE ROAD) and was therefore expecting to be blown away by this. While not quite mind-blowing, it was decidedly effective and a solid film all around. It doesn't have axe murderers lurking in the closet or psychotic cancer patients dismembering helpless victims, but it is one of the scariest movies I've seen in a while. It is frightening in the way that gets under your skin and makes you distinctly aware of the dangers that surround you every day (ala SUPER SIZE ME or AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH).
Jam-packed with an incredibly talented cast (Marion Cotillard, Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon, Jennifer Ehle, Laurence Fishburne, John Hawkes, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, for a start), CONTAGION is a fractured-yet-seamless, all-encompassing tale of the outbreak of a previously-unknown virus that cripples the globe in its swift and deadly grip. It deals with the outbreak, the spread, the attempts at containment, the people infected and their loved ones, the scientists racing to find a vaccine, the government trying to suppress a panic, and the unscrupulous taking advantage of people's fears.
Given the long list of characters and the global focus, I was expecting a story along the lines of BABEL, with in-depth focus on those characters' lives, they way they're connected, and the extent to which they affect one another. It's not quite that. This is, unlike Babel, not a film about characters. If you don't recognize and accept that basic fact about the film, I can see why it would be easy to think it is boring or bad. The fact is, it's just a different kind of movie, and one less commonly seen than explorations of character. CONTAGION is, in short, the exploration of a concept -- that concept being: the global spread of a deadly disease, the ensuing fallout, and how people are affected by and react to it.
In that respect, the movie is fascinating. It is obvious that the writer, Scott Z. Burns, did his research. The film is full of scientific jargon that was simultaneously complex enough to be realistic and accessible enough to not be totally confusing. The movie had such a flavor of realism and widespread focus that it often felt more like a film based on true events than pure fiction (ala UNITED 93). This sense of real-life possibility lent the entire film an edge of danger. Every time someone in the audience coughed, the theater was filled with nervous, self-conscious semi-laughter. I became increasingly aware as the film went on that I was sitting in a dirty movie theater, touching arm rests that countless other hands had touched, surrounded by strangers who could be carrying any sort of disease. I feel a little bad comparing these two movies, but it had a very similar effect to the last movie I saw, FINAL DESTINATION 5, in that it rendered me completely paranoid. And that, to me, is the mark of a good film: one that has a real and visceral effect on the viewer.
This is not a movie about the end of the world told through the eyes of a bewildered father trying to protect his daughter; it's not a movie about brave scientists trying to save the world; nor is it about a woman sent into the heart of a disaster to manage people's fears. It is about all of those things and much, much more. At under two hours and with so many story lines, character development is not the film's strong suit. But neither is it the film's focus. It is the development of the concept that is engaging, that held my attention and terrified me. That's not to say that the performances weren't great -- they were, to a man, but no one was given that token "Oscar scene." Big stars and unknown actors all blended together believably into the complex web of the story. So if you're in the mood to see a piercing exploration of a character's soul, stay away from this one. But if you're of a mind to witness a compelling examination of a completely frightening (and entirely plausible) series of events, this is the film for you.
I saw the film this past weekend. I agree with your assessment of the film.
ReplyDelete