Have you heard of it? The cast contains a slew of heavy-hitting names such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard (j'adore) and Kate Winslet. The film tells the story of how a serious contagious illness from Hong Kong attacks the world's population, causing death and mayhem every where it spreads. The story focuses on how the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control first acknowledge the epidemic, strive to contain the illness, and the effect that these actions have on the world's population. The story also focuses on the roll of blogging as a form of information dissemination that detracts from the goals of government organizations. All-in-all the film is frankly terrifying, as an example of art imitating the real-life SARs epidemic of Hong Kong in 2002.
The film begins in Hong Kong, where an American woman is traveling for work. She catches a food-borne illness prior to her departure and returns home to the US only to spread it to her son and countless other citizens of the world. We watch Matt Damon, one of the few immune to the disease struggle to make sense of a world gone mad. Throughout the film instances of the deadly disease are traced back to Hong Kong and Kowloon, which is a district of Hong Kong on the northern side of Victoria Harbor.
After seeing the film on Friday night, I bought a bottle of Dettol Disinfectant Spray and shared its contents with every surface in my apartment. When I fixed pork tenderloin for dinner last night, I must have washed my hands and dishes literally 10 times. Normally I am not so impressionable or easily persuaded, but after this film I considered buying and wearing a surgical mask--but I didn't. Rob told me he would never take me to see another thriller. Rightfully so. The movie freaked me out. It is a well-done, documentary-type film with great actors, but be forewarned, it is terrifying.
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