CONTAGION directed by Steven Soderbergh (USA, 2011)
We all know that coughs and sneezes spread diseases but this movie is founded on the plausible premise that what we touch is an even deadlier way to pass on infections.
The threat of a pandemic makes a topical doomsday scenario tied neatly with the recognition that the more technology evolves, the more tactile we have to be in our daily lives .
Short of handling pods, pads and other devices with disposable plastic gloves it’s hard to see how contagious illnesses can be contained if and when a major virus takes hold.
Epidemic Intelligence Service officer Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) throws in another curveball when she says that, “the average person touches their face two or three thousand times a day; three to five times every waking minute”. As one local bureaucrat dryly observes, this means that anyone with hands, a mouth and a nose is susceptible.
The first victim we see is Beth Emhoff which comes as a shock given that she is played by Gwyneth Paltrow (a few flashback scenes ensure she has something else to do other than die).
A post-mortem reveals cause for major concern, “Should I call someone?” asks one of medics, “Call everyone” replies his boss. Continue reading
It’s a sign of the times that two films in contention for this year’s Oscars are essentially reminders of the magic of cinema and its power to help us visualise our dreams.
Central to the story is also the appreciation of Méliès visionary films in the early 1900s, particularly Le Voyage Dans La Lune (1902). Scorsese’s reverence for the Frenchman’s innovative work is obvious and the biographical details of him are quite accurate.
Isabelle’s love of reading mirrors Hugo’s fascination for cinema. She likes to show off her wide vocabulary and so delights in using words she has learnt like “steadfast”, “covert” and “panache”. She has been brought up to find dreams in books while Hugo’s father introduced him to the wonder of movies at an early age.
There’s a case to be made for nominating Sherlock Holmes as the first true superhero. His costume may not have been as silly or sexy but he made up for this with his awesome powers of perception.
