Steven Soderbergh
Contagion

THE REVIEW

Soderbergh returns in 2011 with "Contagion," the first of two feature films the filmmaker released last year (the second is "Knockout," currently hitting theaters). Presented as an atypical thriller, it captivated audiences especially due to its cast featuring names of the caliber of Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow.

What to expect from a film with all these names? Simply a ensemble film, where no one is more of a protagonist than others, where everyone is integral to Soderbergh's narrative. A story that draws from one of the greatest fears of the modern world: epidemics, endemic diseases, those that develop for no reason and decimate humanity. A fear that man has carried for years but which, especially with the new millennium, has become widespread. Soderbergh's contagion is aimed at understanding human behavior. Faced with an inexplicable catastrophe, how does man behave? Faced with the generalization of discomfort, what does man do?

"Contagion" insinuates the unspoken doubts of humankind, the great "fears" of modernity, also focusing on the major media outlets, from TV to the internet (especially the latter), which have now become news catalysts contributing to creating a horizon of uncertainty where truth and lies, prophecy and profit intermingle...

How does Soderbergh handle this exposition of doubts and fears? His is a precise direction, visually captivating and notably able to avoid fixating on the filmic spectacularization of events: in "Contagion," there is no trace of Emmerich, but rather good Steven relies on a documentary style (perhaps overly so...) where he moves effortlessly from one situation to another in an attempt (sometimes a bit confusing) to outline all the contours of the story.

A well-crafted film, designed to show us how man responds to the difficulties of man in a macrocosm with inexplicable traits, where a disease of undefined contours strikes and kills. Power (understood in its various political forms, but not only...) exploits everything that happens to its advantage (splendid in this regard is the final sequence, where Soderbergh retraces "day 1"). But although the themes addressed by the film overall are interesting, they are analyzed with the aforementioned documentary style, which makes the viewing of the film not very fluid. The events take on a confusing character, as if Steven Soderbergh, in wanting to provide us with an answer to everything, has fragmented very good film material. The result is an extremely "cold" film, where there is no room for emotionality.