Movie Review: Contagion (2011)

I think Chicken Man has outdone me for this week with his review of Atlas Shrugged, so instead of trying to match his depth and perspective, I'm going ahead with a somewhat abbreviated look at the recent DVD release of Contagion. This film fits, albeit rather roughly, within that critically maligned Hollywood sub-genre known simply, disdainfully, as the "disaster flick." More often than not, films of this ilk involve a parade of above-the-title actors mugging for the precious little screen time afforded them by the spectacle of CGI aliens/battleships/forces of nature/general mayhem. Good humored kids take these movies for exactly what they are: mindless, innocuous, unselfconscious, and fun for the sheer possibilities, however moronic, they strive to represent. Think of them as astronomically expensive playgrounds for our social and cultural dilemmas to tucker themselves out. Contagion, however, goes in the opposite direction of its generic lineage, towards something not based on the premise of possibilities, but based on the premise of reality. The question becomes not How far can we take this?, but How real can we make this seem? Contagion works, for the most part, because it seems real. It stays quiet. It avoids those CGI money shots of mass destruction, of dilapidated or deserted cities and towns, instead tending towards suggestion and, at times, ambiguity.

Following several significant figures dealing with the outbreak of a deadly and highly contagious virus, Contagion weaves these characters together in a multi-strand narrative that's in line with director Steven Soderberg's catalogue (another Soderberg film with a similar narrative structure is Traffic [2000]). Soderberg's narrative, though it breaks with the classical Western narrative of the rugged individual, has considerable generic precedent. The aforementioned "disaster flicks," however dumb, feature such a high demand for star power that the narrative of the film itself must be suited to give each of them an opportunity to earn their keep and satisfy their fans. In that respect, Contagion is no different. What it does do differently, though, involves restraint, particularly in the presentation of its science. That's the key to Contagion. This is not a film about the indomitable will of man, or even a film about the mighty American armed forces. Nor is this a film about scientific possibility; this is a film about scientific reality. And here the obvious withholding of background information (simple expositional things, such as an estimated death toll) seems like a tactful choice indeed. Only the poorly executed ending, in which the source of the virus is rather obtusely and retroactively discovered, sours the experience.