F***. I don't know where to begin. This movie is just so good. I watched a lot of movies this year. I have officially been blown away. Best movie I've been to all year. Has to be one of the scariest things ever put in a theater.
It's about a killer disease that kills a person in less than a week. That's it. It's a very straight forward story and it's filmed much like a docudrama. It has the feeling like this is something that already happened sometime in the past and we are looking at it in a history class or something. Then it's all dramatized to emphasize all the chaos and panic that came with the disease.
People were guessing the disease is transmitted through physical contact. When they said that, I realized I was touching my face with my mouth open. Then they started showing the "chain of custody". Think of all the times you touch your face or some other parts of your body. Think about how many times you touch a door knob or a keyboard. And then someone else touches it. And then they touch something else. This movie is going to make people germophobic! Watch the news, I bet hand sanitizer is going to be in short supply very soon because of this movie.
I also have to mention just how REAL everything felt. Nothing felt staged. I mean, at all. Everywhere you look, there were people getting sick, people getting violent, etc. The entire time I'm in the back of my mind thinking, "yeah. I'd probably react like that too." That's what is so terrifying. This movie actually has me questioning basic human decency and if decency is even a good thing.
Let me explain. Lawrence Fishburne plays a doctor with the CDC. He is responsible for trying to control the chaos while people look for a cure. There's an outbreak in Chicago where his girlfriend lives. He calls her and tries to get her out of the city before the quarantine. He did it because he loves her and worried about her. We all would feel that. But here's the problem... people found out he did it. Now his credibility goes to hell. When he is on the news trying to calm everyone's fears and debate this weasily little muckraking profiteer (played brilliantly by Jude Law) he is set up as the scapegoat and panic spreads even more. It literally is one of those moments where doing the decent/loving thing was the wrong move.
Think about things this way. How much do you trust the government? Every day we hear on the internet and the news about how ineffective and corrupt the government is. They sometimes show flow charts of money and ad hoc kickbacks to politicians. We see these things and we obviously lose trust in the government. Why wouldn't we? Then, a disaster like this hits. Who do we turn to? Can we turn to the government? That's the brilliance behind Alan. (Jude Law's character) He was the first to see the problem even though he didn't know it really was a problem. He tried to warn everyone on the internet and became famous for doing that. Then, he decides to cash in on his celebrity. He introduced a "cure" for the disease and then became more famous and incredibly wealthy. Did it help people? Who knows. I'm sure there would be plenty of stories, but no hard facts. In the meantime, the government is going through the painstaking research process to find a medicine that works. Which is more satisfying to hear during a crisis? Take this medicine right now! The government is trying to weed out undesirable people and make some money! or We are working as fast as we can. Please have patience. Did I say how genius this movie is?
The only person acting rationally through the entire crisis is Mitch (Matt Damon). Why is he the only one acting rationally? Because he was exposed to the disease early and was immune. Again, think about it... really think about it. Fear comes from the unknown. We don't know where it came from. We don't know how it started. We don't know how it spreads. We don't know how to fight it. We don't know ANYTHING! But here we have a man who is immune to the disease. He's guaranteed not to get sick and die. He's already lost his wife and step child to the disease and that was early on. He only has one thing left to fear and that is losing his biological daughter. And that's the focus of his character the entire movie. He does everything he can to keep his daughter away from everyone. And you know you would do the same in his shoes.
It's also refreshing to watch a movie that doesn't have an agenda. Most people would see this movie and think, "how can we prevent this from happening?" The point is that you can't prevent it. It has happened, it is happening, and it will happen in the future. Disease is everywhere. We've had major pandemics before, and we will have them in the future. There aren't any procedures or regulations that would prevent it and nobody is really prepared for it. Why would anyone be prepared? It's about as logical as saying, "why doesn't the government have a plan for what to do when the aliens attack?" These things are by nature unpredictable. All we as people can do is deal with it once it happens and do our best.
I will conclude by emphasizing the feelings of realism, helplessness, futility, and frustration that comes from this movie. It really is just so impactful. It's a very rare breed of movie these days. It needs to be seen.
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