The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Posted: 05 Sep 2011 01:40 AM PDT

Posted: 05 Sep 2011 12:38 AM PDT

Who doesn't love a good pandemic movie? Steven Soderbergh's thriller Contagion shows the effect of a global outbreak.

PERHAPS what is most scary about the premise of Contagion is that it's very much based on reality. New viruses are discovered almost every day, and past epidemics have claimed a large number of casualties – The Black Death in the 14th century caused an estimated 75 million deaths, the 1918 Spanish Flu wiped out 50 million people; not to mention the damage caused by smallpox, cholera, malaria, influenza, tuberculosis, SARS (the virus has not been eradicated, which means it could re-emerge) and H5N1.

With these gory facts and figures, director Steven Soderbergh told Entertainment Weekly that he felt Contagion would be more unsettling than most horror films.

He said: "You can avoid going into the ocean or taking a shower if Jaws and Psycho scare the s*** out of you. (But) you can't live a normal life without coming into contact with germs.''

The idea for the film came when Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns – who both travel a lot – talked about people getting sick after travelling. But instead of just common colds, they conjectured on what would happen if the virus were far more deadly. Recruiting Hollywood's who's who for the film – Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow – the duo set out to explore how a highly infectious virus would spread.

Approaching it from both the victim's and a scientific point of view, Soderbergh follows the pandemic's progress – revealing acts of bravery from average folk as well as the race against time for dedicated scientists to not only stop the progression of the disease, but find a cure. In the process, "each character confronts some aspect of his life that would have remained unexpressed or unchallenged if this disease hadn't shown up," said Soderbergh in the film's production notes.

Also in the mix is another sort of contagion – a blogger is convinced the government is hiding something behind the deaths, posting his theories freely and causing panic. "Part of the story is the way in which information spreads along similar pathways to that of a virus: who gets it and how it moves forward, how it's altered as it moves from one host to another, or one organisation to the next. That was our focus throughout the movie, treating information like a baton that gets passed from one scene to the next. There are so many interesting tributaries. In this situation, it's a lethal problem because misinformation can kill," said Soderbergh.

At the heart of the film is Matt Damon's character, Mitch Emhoff – an everyman whose wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) becomes the first known victim of this unknown virus – who doesn't understand how or what is happening. As a dad, he knows he has to protect his daughter.

Oscar winner Paltrow acknowledged that it is those living who must face the biggest challenge of their lives.

She said: "You start to wonder what you would do in that scenario, and where you'd go for clean water and food. You ask yourself how prepared you would be for a crisis of this scale. We rely so heavily on the infrastructure of society, I think the answer is that we'd all be in quite a lot of trouble."

Meanwhile, the scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must take on the hazardous job of tracking down the starting point of this mutating virus by actually visiting the suspected locations. Playing an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, Dr Erin Mears, is Winslet. After accepting the role, the Oscar winner spent some time at the CDC, meeting with EIS officers.

Winslet recounted what she had learned: "I was told by some that they feel most alive when they're on a mission. You have to be incredibly determined to do this work. It means sacrificing a lot of sleep, a social life, and your own safety, but it's an honour to be chosen. It's what they all train for and want to do."

Although plagues have always come and gone in the world's history, the frequency of emerging infectious diseases are at a high in our times.

In the process of making this film, Soderbergh admitted that he came away both more worried ("everyone we talked to felt there would be a virus at some point that tips over") and more secure in how the people who are the first line of defense are both skilled and intelligent. While not turning into a germaphobe, the director shared that he is more conscious of everything he touches and what people around him touch.

Soderbergh concluded: "It's not often you get the opportunity to make a movie that touches on themes that resonate with everyone, and can also be an entertaining thriller.

"When Scott and I talked about doing a serious film about a pandemic, I thought that because of what's been happening in the world, plus all the advances in medicine and technology, we had to approach it in an ultra-realistic manner. Having been through the research now, I will never again think the same way about how we interact with one another. You cannot immerse yourself in this world and not be forever altered by yourawareness of it." – Mumtaj Begum

> Contagion infects cinemas nationwide on Sept 8.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Isnin, 5 September 2011

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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