Rated PG-13 for disturbing content and some language
Cast: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Regardless of whether parallel meanings are intended, the movie is a smart, taut thriller/drama/procedural devoid of both forced emotional histrionics and migraine-inducing, uber-detailed scientific explanations. There is some science involved (there has to be), but it is curtailed at the point where we have enough information to know details such as rate of exposure, incubation period, etc. Instead of enfilading us with insider knowledge-based explanations, the film forgoes such approaches for more digestible information that conveys the direness of the situation. At one point, a government official (Enrico Colantoni) asks "is there any way someone could weaponize the bird flu, is that what we're looking at here?" "Someone doesn't have to weaponize the bird flu," is the reply. "The birds are doing that." I don't know if lines like that would be spoken behind real life closed doors, but it's fittingly ominous for the movie.
We're told that the outbreak most likely originated somewhere in Hong Kong. A businesswoman named Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) has recently returned to her Minneapolis home from China where her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon) and children await. She looks dreadfully sick, but blames it on mere jet lag. It's not long before she's rushed to the hospital with seizures and later pronounced dead. Her death occurred so suddenly and with no explanation that Mitch's reaction is more perplexed than heartbroken. ("What are you talking about, what happened to her? What happened to her?")
The medical and scientific elite spring into action, including Centers for Disease Control front man Dr. Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) and his ace scientist Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) who displays no hesitation in racing toward the battlefield at her own peril. There is also Cheever's number one lab technician, Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) who tests a possible cure on herself because she's too close to answers not to risk it. The CDC combat the outbreak under the watchful eye of government official Lyle Haggerty (Bryan Cranston) who strives to make good decisions though must impose government parameters in the process. Also on the case is World Health Organization scientist Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard) who sets up base in Hong Kong.
Calamities like this do, however, bring out the opportunists, and the most glaring one here is a blog writer named Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) who blazons a video demonstration of a possible cure online (though we question its veracity) while promulgating his alliance with "the people" even as we realize his own popularity is fed by paranoia. In one scene, he meets in secret with a pharmaceutical executive trying to corner a possible market for a cure. At first we scoff at a writer compromising his journalistic integrity in such a way... until we wonder if perhaps in doing so we're giving this guy too much credit by linking him with the very notion of integrity.
The story's tension is propelled not so much by the discovery of the cure but rather by its distribution. This is where Steven Soderbergh's film shows its strength. One scene shows a televised lottery where birthdates are drawn to determine who will receive the vaccination first; I can't imagine how maddening that would be. The doctors involved in isolating a cure are a noble bunch, though sometimes need to be reminded of all who deserve to know the extent of the situation and whether or not they have a chance at receiving a vaccination. ("I have people, too, Dr. Cheever. We all do," a janitor states pointedly.) There is also a subplot involving a doctor being ransomed in a remote Chinese village whose citizens await the vaccine. "I can't do any good here," the doctor reasons. Her captor knows this, understands it, and yet can't help his decision... he knows his village will not receive any vaccination in time. All options are viable in desperate times.
Maybe I'm stretching it with comparisons to terrorism. I don't know; perhaps the release date being so close to the ten year anniversary of 9/11 made me draw the link. The movie is essentially an observation of all manner of reactions to a horrific global situation. There is panic, violence, looting, red tape, and opportunists ready to pounce. But heroism is also waiting in the wings. Maybe the point here is simply to ask if, Heaven forbid, a widespread calamity occurred, how would we react?
* * * out of * * * * stars
