CONTAGION (A MOVIE REVIEW)

Directed by : Steven Soderbergh

Released : September 3,2011 by Warner

bros pictures

Genre : Action, thriller

Runtime :106 minutes

Awards :Golden trailer awards(2012),

Hollywood Film Awards(2012)

When the medical thriller movie Contagion came out in 2011, it was praised for its realistic portrayal of a
global pandemic scenario. The film depicts parallel plot threads about what could if a life threatinng
virus spreads. The story starts showing business woman is suffering from seizure. Later, an WHO
epidemiologist identified her as index case. After this, other hapless victims start to get affected by the
same viral infection.

In Atlanta, scientists of CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) predict that virus can be
bioweapon but there is no such scientific remedy. At this time, several cities are quarantined, causing
panic buying, looting and violence for its widespread contamination. Taking advantage of the condition,
a conspiracy theorist blogs about the virus and claims to have cured himself using a homeopathic
remedy to boost his scales. Later on, he was arrested being a fraud.

At CDC , a scientist determines the virus az a combination of genetic material from a pig and bat borne
which is spread by respiratory droplets and fomites with an RO, a mathematical equation that tells how
many people will be affected by an MEV-1 infected person. During this time, government ordered to
stop the research and destroy all the samples as they are unable to discover the exact MEV-1 cell
structure with it’s changing samples. But violating the government order , another scientist identifies a
common usable cell structure and develops a vaccine. Later, by risking her own life, she inoculates
herself with the experimental vaccine, then visits her infected father but doesn’t contact MEV-1 and the
vaccine is declared a success.

In flashback, to the pathogen spill over, in China , a bat drops an infected piece of banana in a pig farm
which is consumed by a pig later. That pig is prepared by a Chef in a Macau Casino who without washing
his hands , transmits the virus to the index case via a handshake.

The core theme of Contagion is its characters willingness to bend and break rules and laws, some for
completely selfless reasons, other to spare themselves the loss of loved ones and others for personal
gain. It has also effectively captured that loneliness that comes out of self isolation like many people are
having to do right now. In 2020, the film received renewed popularity due to COVID-19 pandemic which
bears a shocking uncanny resemblance to the pandemic.