Hong Kong, bird flu inspires end-of-the-world yarn

CONTAGION  

Hong Kong, bird flu inspires end-of-the-world yarn

Reviewer

By CRISTOBAL LABOG

September 20, 2011, 9:33am

A scene from 'Contagion'

MANILA, Philippines -- Remember SARS? Well, you might not. Originating in China and Hong Kong, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome first ran rampant there, killing a great number of people.

SARS also devastated neighboring Southeast Asian countries – then on to Europe and the Americas – but it spared the Philippines. Yes, the joke went about that so virulent is Philippine air, the SARS virus died the moment the carrier or carriers disembarked the plane at NAIA. That was in 2002, and since SARS never really dominated local news, because the epidemic never got off the ground here, you probably never heard about it. Well, raise the SARS death figure to the nth power and you get an idea of how much more terrifying is the virus around which the film “Contagion” revolves.

Now, remember 1995’s “Outbreak” in which German Wolfgang Petersen (“Troy,” “The Perfect Storm,” etc.) directed a stellar cast top-billed by Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey and Morgan Freeman? Like the much earlier 1980 Japanese film “Wirusu no Hi” (“Day of the Virus”), it dramatized a pandemic that threatened to wipe out the human race. Flash forward to 2011, and we have “Contagion” – and don’t be surprised that “Contagion” and “Outbreak” are both Warner Brothers productions. What’s with Hollywood these days?

But never mind, at least four major Oscar winners – director Steven Soderbergh for Best Picture “Traffic” and Best Actresses Marion Cotillard for “La Vien en Rose,” Gwyneth Paltrow for “Shakespeare in Love” and Kate Winslet for “The Reader” – make “Contagion” something moviegoers will not want to miss. Add heavyweight performers like Matt Damon, Jude Law, Lawrence Fishburne and Elliott Gould, and you have the year’s most star-studded opus.

The film starts innocently enough, with Gwyneth’s character Beth Emhoff emptying a pre-departure cocktail in Hong Kong which a waitress then dutifully removes. This sequence inter-cuts with various scenes around the world: Beth’s husband Mitch (Matt Damon) back in Minnesota awaiting Beth’s arrival; various physicians and medics going about their work at a medical facility in Switzerland; sleazy-looking blogger Alan (Jude Law) strutting his stuff in San Francisco; plus an assortment of other doctors (six of the powerhouse cast) facing another typical day – but is it?

Indeed, now-sniffling, coughing Beth must have caught a flu-like something, for she collapses when she arrives at home (after passing on the virus at the HK and Minneapolis international airports). Her nurse and attending physician in turn pass the germs on to unknown strangers who pass them on to others, as does the waitress in Hong Kong to other local and international travelers… ad infinitum. Within hours or days, all these poor souls perish, including the Emhoffs’ son. Before long the pestilence has claimed millions, causing widespread panic. But guess what, the virus spares Matt Damon’s Mitch and his daughter.

Physicians galore now start entering the picture – from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in America to the WHO (World Health Organization) in Europe. These include Dr. Ellis Cheever (Lawrence Fishburne), Dr. Erin Meers (Kate Winslet), Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), Dr. Ian Sussman (Elliott Gould), Dr. Ally Hexfall (Jennifer Ehle) and Dr. Eisenseberg (Demetri Martin). Some of these doctors eventually succumb to the disease, one’s abducted by a Hong Kong Chinese (charismatic newcomer Tien You Chui), and a pair discovers the vaccine that could arrest the spread of the virus, or at least before it mutates. (Sequels, anyone?) But expect no more spoilers here.

Local director Elwood Perez’s advice is to head to the cinema with a surgical mask and hand sanitizer because that’s how this convincing film affected him. (This reviewer headed to the bathroom at home after assiduously avoiding the Megamall cinema’s own toilet.) But as Elwood would also ask, where’s the film’s beef?

Owing to Soderbergh’s huge reputation, cineastes assume that anything he directs must be good, sight unseen. And in this apocalyptic tale, he does work with his regular auteur’s crew of writer (Scott Z. Burns), editor (Stephen Mirrione) and composer (Cliff Martinez) who themselves have won Oscars and BAFTA’s. Also, by shooting the film a la film noir with a yellowish tint, his chosen director of photography Peter Andrews, heightens the feeling of plague.

Verdict: Soderbergh’s cast and crew deliver. This cautionary tale, which Michael Shamberg, Stacey Share and Gregory Jacobs produced, could dominate the spectator’s waking hours with its gravitas-laden message.

“Contagion” runs for 1 hour and 42 minutes. Warner Brothers released the film, rated PG-13, although a scene showing the autopsy of a victim’s head could make you squirm in your seat.

Cristobal Labog has worked as a copywriter and strategic planner for advertising agencies in Manila, Tokyo, Brussels and Amsterdam. He divides his time between the city of Trabzon on the Black Sea in Turkey and the city of Mandaluyong in the Philippines. For questions and comments, e-mail crislabog@gmail.com.