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Sunday Classics : Contagion - this prescient pandemic movie turns 10

The Soderberg bio-medical thriller instils hope when there seems to be no respite

There is a reason why Contagion, released in September 2011, became the most (re)watched movie in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Steven Soderberg’s 22nd film was not just a disaster movie, but a blueprint to a pandemic that seems eerily similar to what is unfolding in the world today. The innocuous cough, the ordinary interactions that spreads the virus across the globe, the retracing of the virus to the source, the breakdown in social structures, the panic buying and violence, the misinformation in the face of lack of information, the fight to develop a vaccine, the instructions to stay away from people and to wash hands - what the film portrays is playing out in real time today.

Scientifically accurate, with a stellar star cast, and a note of hope that the world will go back to normal, Contagion is a good watch (or rewatch) today.