With an almost documentary-like quality, the film Contagion documents the spread of a novel viral disease and the efforts made by individuals and organizations to isolate, identify, and find a possible treatment for it. An all-star cast, containing all of the heavy hitters, deliver a well-acted and startlingly realistic account of the spread of this virus, to the point that you may end up wondering how many times you touch your face per day and if you should go back and wash your hands one more time, just in case.
I won't get too much into the plot details (you can look at the link above), but I've essentially covered the essentials (disease spreads, disease identified, disease treated). Instead, I want to give my overall impressions, some specifics that I liked, and some stuff that I think could have been done better.
Overall - this was a very well done movie. From beginning to end, it was compelling without requiring a lot of overacting, melodrama, or heavy plot points found in other movies. There was no big love story, no dramatic cure, just a lot of folks doing the best they can to isolate the virus and discover a cure. The responses from different people, individuals and larger groups, were about what you would have expected - mass hysteria from a panicked public, serious thought and consideration from scientists attempting to learn about disease and how to treat it. The level of science presented in the movie is thorough without being overwhelming, so the standard movie-goer can understand and the scientifically inclined can really appreciate the level of detail. Again, the acting was spot-on, with nothing crazy on the lines of something like Outbreak (a movie that I also enjoy). Finally, both the wife and I agreed that the end of the movie could have had a message from the CDC - get vaccinated! (the folks at Science-Based Medicine should get a kick out of the movie, I think)
What I liked - My wife, an oncology nurse, often is miffed at the large inaccuracies in medical terminology and practice in film and on TV, to which I often reply "it's a movie". This movie had none of that - we were both quite impressed with the accuracy and detail to which they portrayed the quest to identify the disease. Terms like fomite were correctly used and applied when appropriate, differences between killed and live attenuated viruses were discussed (including the use of adjuvants!), and genomic overlays and PDB structures were shown and explained so they could be understood. Never during the movie did I roll my eyes about the inaccuracy of the science - in fact, I did a lot of nodding in agreement for what they were doing. Who knew they would be able to make using a centrifuge look cool? Maybe it's because Dimitri Martin was doing it...
Aside from the science, I again was again impressed with the acting and the convincing accuracy with which they portrayed how people would react to such an outbreak. From scientists to epidemiologists to the general public, everyone reacted like they should have. It was even to the point that the conspiracy loving folks got their nod in the form of one character acting as a "professional blogger" who "seeks the truth", pushing the use of his homeopathic remedy and suggesting people not get vaccinated. In a world where vaccine scares are still in our minds (hello autism), this movie shows what can happen when misappropriate and scientifically lacking ideas and treatments are pushed on the general public. It ended up acting as almost a message against folks promoting CAM and homeopathic remedies, again instead backing the message that you should trust scientifically backed treatments.
Most importantly - a lot of the movie takes place in Minnesota. They even had KARE 11 news on there! Made me miss home...
What could have been better - my only real problem with the movie was a limitation of it being a movie - a lot of stuff ends up getting dropped at one time or another. It's impossible to tie up every loose end, but to a certain extent I wish they could have spent a little more time on different points - what happens to the WHO officer after she realizes a bunch of villagers received a placebo treatment, or just what made one of the characters immune (and why wasn't it utilized? Probably because it was unrealistic, but still). The wife suggested it's because the folks played their role and then "bowed out" when their time was done (as is often the case with scientific progress, I suppose), but I would have loved more and more detail!
One other plot point I'm curious about was how the disease spread. I can understand that it wasn't airborne and required contact with surfaces or diseased folks, but given it's relatively limited starting point, how could it have hit every major city in the world? It seemed like they chose all of the major cities and just assumed it would get there, even when it doesn't seem like it could have spread that quickly. Perhaps that's the only somewhat unrealistic part of it, but it's likely a result of (again) just not having enough time to tell the story.
Bottom line - if you are a fan of science, critical thinking, and a compelling movie, go see this movie.
I'm Adam L.
Thanks for listening. :/-
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