Contagion lacks focus
Have you ever thought about what would happen if a bat started eating a banana, dropped the uneaten portion into a pig farm, a pig ate the rest and then a chef handled the pig without washing his hands? Luckily this has never happened because this is the making of an infectious disease–well, at least according to director Steven Soderbergh’s new film Contagion. At its root, Contagion is a film about the spread of an infectious disease. We get to see how easily a new disease may spread, how the government might handle an outbreak and how people may react when things look grim.
After the Center for Disease Control (CDC) learns that they have a new deadly disease on their hands, they must work to find a cure and stop the disease from spreading before more people die. While this plot seems simple enough Soderbergh tries to cover what would happen from every angle. Although this adds some interesting vantage points, it also makes it impossible to know what the focus of the film is.
Contagion can be broken down into a few stories, the first is about the disease. We see where it starts who it affects and how it spreads. We even learn a bit about the science of a viruses and diseases. The next story is about Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon). His wife, Beth, (Gwyneth Paltrow) comes home from a trip abroad not feeling very well. During her sickness we start to see glimpses of other people abruptly dying and now we know we the disease is running its course. Mitch’s wife and son die from the illness and he’s left with just his daughter. We see their struggle of trying to stay strong during tough times. Another story is the government’s role in fighting the disease. The CDC must contract doctors to find a cure, a process that involves the bureaucracy of how to communicate the message with the general public. There’s the tale of how a small town tries to kidnap a government figure and use her as a bargaining chip for vaccines. One of the more interesting stories was that of a conspiracy theorist and how he rises and falls as a result of blogging about the disease. As you can see there is a lot going on in this film.
If Contagion simply wanted to tell the story of a disease and who it touched, they did a good job. However, the movie was marketed as an action-thriller. Because of that, Damon’s top billing generated a lot of interest in this film. Seeing Jude Law and Marion Cotillard cast a long with him was especially exciting. However, once in the theater the action never came. Sure there were a few glimpses of some rioting and looting, but as soon as Damon came across it he got in his car and went home. There was just too much going on to fit in any action or to create any real connection with the characters.
If there is anything positive to say about this film it belongs with the cast. Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet had the most screen time, and it was well deserved. They did a great job and their scenes were well-acted and enjoyable. Damon, Law, Cotillard, and Paltrow did well for the amount of screen time they were given. When you have that much talent it’s difficult to give them all the time they deserve. There were some other recognizable faces in the film too, most notably a cameo by Demetri Martin. Martin played a scientist but he got to deliver a joke or two.
