Contagion’: Subtlety is the cure for what ails you

Fans of the film “Contagion” aren’t going to like the following review. But, hey, being contrary is almost obligatory for a film critic. Here, then, is the review that I wrote for Spokane Public Radio:

I’m a big fan of subtlety, which is a little ironic because my radio style is often anything but. Yeah, I sometimes kick back and let myself enjoy the over-the-top lure of shock cinema. Sometimes you just need to bleed the lines, you know?

Subtlety, though, is what I consider the essence of art. You make a dramatic point –

something, say, about a killer virus ravaging the world – and in the process you direct a finger at the cause. But you don’t do so obviously. You give the audience enough evidence to draw its own conclusions. And you don’t telegraph that evidence, especially when you intend to weigh down your larger point with a political agenda.

Welcome to an exercise in obviousness: Steven Soderbergh ’s action thriller “Contagion.”

First, let’s agree that there are two Soderberghs. One is the experimental, indy guy whose penchant is for work that speaks to a limited audience: himself first and foremost. Oh, you may enjoy what you’re watching, but that is clearly beside his point. This Soderbergh directed such films as “Kafka,” “Schizopolis, ” “Full Frontal” and the two-part biopic “Che.” The second Soderbergh is the one most moviegoers are familiar with: the Oscar-winning director of such pop creations as “Erin Brockovich,” “Traffic” and the “Ocean’s” trilogy.

As with most of Soderbergh’s better pop efforts, “Contagion” purrs along as smoothly as a cheetah on the tail of a baby wildebeest. Underscoring a riveting mock-doc style with ensemble acting performed by actors less selfish than a troupe of Salvation Army volunteers, Soderbergh – working from a script by screenwriter Scott Z. Burns – creates a health-care horror story. And I’m not talking about Republican reactions to Obamacare.

We’re thrown into a drama already under way. A woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) is traveling home after a business trip to Hong Kong. She has the sniffles. So, we gradually see, do a number of others. Unlike most colds, though, this woman’s affliction quickly accelerates. And the next thing you know, she is in the emergency room, so are all other others, things go from bad to worse – and now it’s time, first, for the Center for Disease Control and then the World Health Organization to step in.

Soderbergh and Burns tell their story through an eclectic ensemble cast, each actor representing one small part of the overall mosaic. You have the sick woman’s husband (Matt Damon) and his loving daughter (Anna Jacoby-Heron). Kate Winslett plays an intrepid CDC doctor whose boss is Laurence Fishburne. Another Oscar-winning actress, Marion Cotillard , plays a conscientious WHO official, while a snaggle-toothed Jude Law show up as an ethically challenged blogger. The physician/researcher who ultimately figures things out is played by the little-used, but surprisingly effective Jennifer Ehle. And … well, the list goes on and on. The various stories they all act out fit together like a Legos version of “Gray’s Anatomy,” and their taut assemblage is accentuated both by the smoothness of Soderbergh’s trademark editing and by the uniform, effectively urgent acting.

But … a few of the plot lines don’t so much resolve themselves as merely end (where is Cotillard’s character going, and what is she going to do when she gets there?). Worse, after shepherding us through a disastrous series of events that could occur, uh, tomorrow! – Soderbergh gives us a final image that, in retrospect, reveals not merely the cause of everything but slams us up side the head with its significance.

Here’s a hint: Development bad! Rain forest good! That, underneath all the flash, is about as deep as “Contagion” gets. Soderbergh and Burns have given us a quickly paced, at times exciting and mostly entertaining look at real-life horror. And then they top things off with a political statement as obvious as a runny nose and twice as irritating.