Contagion, a 2011 film

 Contagion, a 2011 film

Story:

I watched the film amidst the Corona outbreak, when I am sitting inside my house and quite scared for my loved ones. The film hits right from the 1st frame. The virus is too damn similar to this corona which makes the film scarier. The dedication of doctors, father’s fear, riots because of starvation and panic, feelings of a teenager who is locked up in the house, reporters trying to make money, fake news everything is relatable. The situation and all the things happening around it are realistic and intense that you start feeling the pain of every character. 

When Dr, Erin explains the epidemic, we feel that she is so damn right and we get the urge to tell them that please listen to her. When she is trying to find out who else is infected and she finds out the guy is on the bus, “Do not touch anyone, I need you to get out of that bus. You might have been infected with a virus and you might be highly contagious.”  And he says, “I have touched my son, did he get the virus too?”The feelings both of them are having, we get a rush in our blood as well.

1% of the world's population seems so little but it’s almost 70 million people. And when we understand that we know what we are fighting with.

Many parallel stories are going on simultaneously. The father, a good man, quarantines himself and his daughter. When he sees the robbery in the neighborhood, he goes there to see if he can find anything for himself. The fear for his family made him a selfish man. On the other hand when the doctor selflessly tests the vaccine on herself as it will be very late to wait for formal approval, we feel thankful towards doctors who are working around us right now.

When the characters talk about not touching each other, no handshakes, we see they are using masks, not touching our face, all the words and phrases we are using now, it feels scary but this film gives hope. It shows anxiety, loneliness due to self isolation but at the end we find the cure.   

But when the vaccine is tested on animals and for that we (humans) inject the virus in them that’s when it feels like maybe we deserve this epidemic. But is there any other option? Isn’t that survival instinct? Or having brain and sensitivity, we can spare those poor animals and use ourselves, human bodies to test whatever it is?

We see the selfishness of a doctor that he informs his family about the lock down beforehand or he gets a vaccine for her before anyone else. But isn’t that what we all would have done? When you have worked on something tirelessly, wouldn’t you want your family to get it ASAP?

Millions of people died, many who survived are ashamed of their doings. We are left with mixed feelings at the end of the film. Relieved that they found the vaccine, surprised to know how it all started. Everything is changed after the epidemic. We know now that nothing is the same as it was.