It goes without saying that Soderbegh is one of the finest filmmakers of our times. He is possibly second only to Fincher in the precision he brings to his direction. While the former relies on Jeff Cronenweth to lens his films as a DOP and bring his vision to life, Soderbegh is so meticulous that he even shoots all his films.
While Contagion may have never received all the acclaim Soderbergh's other films deserved and in some cases that might be rightly so, it is still a great film. The Ebola scare the world is facing reminded me of its startling climax. Contagion as the name suggests is about a deadly disease that starts out of nowhere and threatens to wipe out humanity. Soderbergh for his part deals with its spread deftly and in a cold detached manner, which was a great directional choice.
Why, you ask? Well, for starters, the disease isn't picking people. It's not personal, it's a pandemic. The deaths come in hordes, we see one minor character after another bite the dust. The cause of the diseases never shown as is expected in a genre like this. But Soderbergh spares you the worst till the end. He shows the disease being dealt with, he shows the cure. He shows the patient zero's family (Gwyneth Paltrow in this case) on its way to an emotional 'recovery.' And then, never the one to go with Hollywood's mindless wish fulfillment theories, Soderbergh shows you how easily such a deadly disease could spread and how little humanity despite all its technical achievements could do to combat it. Well, at least immediately. Brace yourself for what can only be called a horror film and it's horror without blood, gore or ghosts.
While Contagion may have never received all the acclaim Soderbergh's other films deserved and in some cases that might be rightly so, it is still a great film. The Ebola scare the world is facing reminded me of its startling climax. Contagion as the name suggests is about a deadly disease that starts out of nowhere and threatens to wipe out humanity. Soderbergh for his part deals with its spread deftly and in a cold detached manner, which was a great directional choice.
Why, you ask? Well, for starters, the disease isn't picking people. It's not personal, it's a pandemic. The deaths come in hordes, we see one minor character after another bite the dust. The cause of the diseases never shown as is expected in a genre like this. But Soderbergh spares you the worst till the end. He shows the disease being dealt with, he shows the cure. He shows the patient zero's family (Gwyneth Paltrow in this case) on its way to an emotional 'recovery.' And then, never the one to go with Hollywood's mindless wish fulfillment theories, Soderbergh shows you how easily such a deadly disease could spread and how little humanity despite all its technical achievements could do to combat it. Well, at least immediately. Brace yourself for what can only be called a horror film and it's horror without blood, gore or ghosts.
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