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Title: Contagion (2011)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Gwyneth Paltrow | ... | Beth Emhoff | |
| Tien You Chui | ... | Li Fai (as Chui Tien You) | |
| Josie Ho | ... | Li Fai's Sister | |
| Daria Strokous | ... | Irina | |
| Matt Damon | ... | Mitch Emhoff | |
| Griffin Kane | ... | Clark Morrow | |
| Yoshiaki Kobayashi | ... | Japanese Bus Man | |
| Laurence Fishburne | ... | Dr. Ellis Cheever | |
| John Hawkes | ... | Roger | |
| Jude Law | ... | Alan Krumwiede | |
| Monique Gabriela Curnen | ... | Lorraine Vasquez | |
 |
Teri McEvoy | ... | School Nurse |
| Sue Redman | ... | ER Nurse #1 | |
|
|
Teri Campbell | ... | ER Nurse #2 |
| Stef Tovar | ... | Dr. Arrington | |
Soon after her return from a business trip to Hong Kong, Beth Emhoff dies from what is a flu or some other type of infection. Her young son dies later the same day. Her husband Mitch however seems immune. Thus begins the spread of a deadly infection. For doctors and administrators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, several days pass before anyone realizes the extent or gravity of this new infection. They must first identify the type of virus in question and then find a means of combating it, a process that will likely take several months. As the contagion spreads to millions of people worldwide, societal order begins to break down as people panic. Written by garykmcd
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Stephen Soderbergh's latest direction, "Contagion" (2011), even though bringing less than expected excitement, is an absorbing movie to watch, efficient as a social and behavioural study, but no less as an accomplished collection of individual case studies, offering sufficiently thought-provoking arguments, such as the fact that--despite all the scientific advances and exhaustive efforts of the thousands of specialists--humankind still stands pretty helpless in the prevention of new viral outbreaks and their many strains occurring globally, when even seemingly well organised societies easily slip into chaos, leaving all individuals to fend for themselves in the ultimate fight for survival, all further fuelled by unstoppable leaks (however, lucrative sensationalism, as well) on an almost inevitable, mutually supportive (money and power shouldn't mix, but mostly they do) corporal and governmental cover-ups. Surely it is a disturbing reminder that even at the most difficult of times, humanity's good traits still get so easily overpowered by the seed of all evil--selfishness and greed.
Many good actors partake in the movie: Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Jennifer Ehle, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, to name a few, though one cannot expect remarkable character development when action is dispersed and story spread on so many leads. Nevertheless, Soderbergh knows how to make people count and, albeit somewhat shy about it, he's sufficiently confident in decisive difference their increasingly frequent, self-sacrificing actions could make, having faith in ultimately predominant selflessness and benevolence, kindness and compassion, whether among pre-organised, or ad hoc gathered communities, down to the last individual, rediscovering--now under extreme conditions--their altruism and, as implied in a reserved hope raised towards the end, having--this way or another--humanism in humankind still prevail.
Ian Lipkin, the university professor and epidemiologist, who serves as the director of Columbia University's Center for Infection and Immunity, agreed to assist as medical consultant in the making of "Contagion" because the film was "an effort to accurately represent the science and to make a movie that would entertain as well as educate."