What would happen in the world if no one, not even those living in a protective bubble, were immune to a disease? “Contagion” examines a lethal virus transmitted by touch.  If you come in contact with a sick person or any object that they’ve touched, you’re infected.  If you weren’t a germaphobe before, this movie will convert you!

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, “Contagion” examines people’s reactions to a massive pandemic.  What would you do if lethal disease were to hit the world? Would you try to help people?  Panic? Isolate yourself?  Try to make money off of the panic?  Well, in “Contagion,” you would most likely die trying.  The movie opens with a cough; two minutes later the first person falls to the floor dead.  Then people start dropping like flies.

If you are looking for a movie with character development then you will be horribly disappointed.  This movie is full of characters who, fair warning, you should not get attached to.  But the actors make use of what little time they are given.

Although the characters are not fully developed, the interesting parts of the movie are the reactions to imminent death.  Laurence Fishburne is perfectly cast as the head of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Fishbourne is calm, authoritative, possibly heartless, as he leads the search in trying to find a cure for the deadly microscopic infection. Fishburne is one of the few characters that is given the chance to actually develop.

“Contagion” is a thriller that is not for the faint of heart.  By Day 32, the U.S. has already run out of body bags!  Fifteen minutes into the movie I found myself wishing I had brought my bottle of Purell as the guy next to me started coughing just like those dying in the movie.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone.  I even found myself feeling for Matt Damon when he couldn’t process that his wife had died. Jude Law, walking the trash-ridden streets in a hazmat suit, pulls at the heartstrings.  Ample amounts of research was done to complete this movie and make it as accurate and realistic as possible and, scarily enough, it is almost “dead” on.  Oh, and I checked the  “Contagion”  infection map: it hits Walla Walla.