It’s not often a nearly-decade-old movie makes it back into the iTunes movie charts, but pandemic thriller Contagion has achieved it, for the obvious reason. It is sitting at #12 at the time of writing …
The movie even anticipated fake news.
Buzzfeed reporter Matt Stopera recently watched it and now wishes he hadn’t (contains a small spoiler about the opening of the movie).
Soon more cases are reported as the virus begins to spread. Researchers mobilize to break the code of this unique biological pathogen as it continues to mutate.
Deputy Director Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) tries to allay the growing panic despite his own personal concerns, and must send a brave young doctor (Kate Winslet) into harms way.
As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger (Jude Law) claims the public isnt getting the truth about whats really going on, and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself.
Producer Michael Shamberg told BuzzFeed that the movie was intended to be both accurate and a cautionary tale.
We zoom in. The peanuts she’s eating are communal bar peanuts. They’re now contaminated. She hands her credit card to the bartender. Contaminated.
For the next two hours we get gratuitous zoom-ins on everyday objects with our grubby little human hands on them. An elevator button? Tainted. This cup of water? The new home to a deadly disease.
The coronavirus is not airborne, rather carried in water droplets from coughs and sneezes. However, the point about contaminated objects applies equally to this virus: it can survive a long time on hard surfaces. For anyone concerned, a more sensible precaution than face masks is to wear washable cotton gloves.
Across the entire collection of titles in the Warner Bros. catalog (i.e., films not considered new releases), Contagion was the 270th most-watched WB film in December. So far in 2020, it is the second most watched.
Contagion is available on iTunes, $3.99 rental, $9.99 purchase.
