As I was preparing to leave to see “Contagion,” I joked I was going to “catch” a movie, and said I would return in a couple of hours, hopefully in good health. As I was exiting the theater a few hours later, I avoided touching the handrail that runs along the stairs next to the stadium-style seating. Viruses are no laughing matter.
“Contagion” is a tremendously effective thriller about a deadly viral outbreak. It works on a more visceral level than a Hollywood blockbuster because it’s everything this kind of film normally isn’t. It’s restrained and methodical. There are no splashy action scenes or bloated special effects. It doesn’t pause to mourn over its victims or give us an evil villain who gets his just desserts. Instead, it jumps relentlessly from point A to point B, taking only what it needs to tell its story and then moving on. It’s clean, efficient, and focused, just like virus.
There are brief scenes during which scientists and disease experts have the kinds of conversations that made me stop watching “House.” And yet the dialogue was written in such a way that I understood what they were talking about, and the implications of their discussions. In a film grounded in realism, it’s no small accomplishment that I never wondered what was going on or why. I can’t think of a better spearhead for this material than Stephen Soderberg, best known for directing “Oceans 11” and its sequels. While Soderberg has made several good films, his inability to emotionally connect with his material can be frustrating, as it tends to keeps viewers at arm’s length.
Here, his one weakness works in the movie’s favor. “Contagion” is a procedural, and it’s successful because of its detached perspective. Only at the end does Soderberg give one character a moment to shed tears, and even then, that person is alone in a closet.
None of this is meant to suggest “Contagion” is boring. On the contrary, it’s gripping. Millions, and possibly billions, of lives hang in the balance. There’s no cure, and in a crowded world hamstrung by bureaucratic obstacles, it will be difficult to stop it from spreading. Worse, no one has a clue how the virus formed (although a disturbing scene at the end of the movie offers an apparent explanation).
Soderberg picks his characters carefully, using only the people he needs to tell his story. There’s Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon), whose wife, Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) is victim one. She dies within a few days, as does her and Mitch’s five-year-old son. This leaves Mitch, who’s immune to the virus, alone with his adolescent daughter. Then there’s Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne), who heads up the response team at the Center for Disease Control, Alan Krumweide (Jude Law), who runs a popular conspiracy theory blog, Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), who sets out to track down the source of the virus, and about a dozen more major actors, all of whom deliver quality performances. In terms of its casting, “Contagion” is Soderberg’s “Towering Inferno,” a throwback to the star-studded disaster pics of the ’70s.
If there’s a running theme in “Contagion,” it’s the question of the fragility of our humanity. A virus could wipe out a huge chunk of mankind, but what else might we lose? Although there are scenes that show looting and physical assaults taking place, and certain characters toss compassion out the window in an effort to survive, there are also two scenes involving Cheever that suggest the civility that make us human would survive.
An interesting visual motif Soderberg uses throughout “Contagion” is one of hands touching surfaces. We touch our faces, other people, and more things in one day than we can count. How could we survive something that’s spread through an act that’s endemic to our nature? “Contagion” is a good movie, and a great way to put the gloss of summer behind us and dive into what promises to be a season of smart, compelling films.
Rated PG-13 for disturbing content and some language. Three stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.