FILM REVIEW: Contagion

The expert directing and the glistening cast in Contagion help create an intelligent and captivating film about the threat of a deadly virus

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet

Contagion is on one level a more intelligent, engaging version of those Dettol adverts in which mom touches the stove and a green dot appears, which quickly spreads to baby and the rest of the family before mom realises just how present germs are in her everyday life.

Expertly directed in Robert Altman's chop-and-change, continent-shifting fashion by Steven Soderbergh, the film follows the frightening progress of a lethal airborne virus as medical experts rush to find an antidote.

Of course, with this being the globalised, easily interconnected 21st century, panic, conspiracy theories, political agendas and drug company profiteers are part of the story.

Using a compelling chronological approach, the film is an effective and engaging disaster movie that relies on characters and emotions rather than overblown set pieces and shots of people running away from the weather.

Using a free-floating documentary style camera and jumping into stories of different characters caught in the frenzy, Soderbergh brings the same conscience and intelligence to bear that he used so effectively in his Oscar-winning drug-trade film Traffic.

He is helped by a strong, star-studded cast, who are all committed more to the overall story than to their screen egos. In a genre filled with over-the-top hysterics, this is a calm, reasoned approach to a relatable set of circumstances with real consequences.

It begins on a note of panic and fear and never lets go - keeping the audience engaged in the desperate situation. The political and social crises that are raised in the wake of the attempt to stop the disease are presented in a way that accentuates their plausibility.

It's relevant to people living in a country like South Africa, where disease has caused so much turmoil and political uproar.

With Soderbergh on top form and the cast giving their best, the film succeeds in being a far more effective advert for sanitising hand wash than any 30-second commercial featuring moms, babies, kitchens and crazy green dots could hope to achieve.