Verdict
Contagion is a jarring, eye-opening film with a notably offbeat, unique score (it’s largely electronic) – and given the fact that our world is overdue for a deadly pandemic, it’s also quite frightening. On its pandemic flu website, the Centers for Disease Control has publicly addressed Contagion and some of the issues raised by the film (CDC Responds to Contagion).
…disease outbreaks are natural plots for compelling entertainment. But life and death situations and heroic scientists battling against time and heavy odds to track the source of killer diseases and contain them before they wipe out entire communities are not just movie plots. They really happen. And the real stories of CDC′s disease detectives and their investigations are just as exciting as anything you′ll see in a theater. In just the last 10 years, CDC scientists and researchers have played a role in understanding and halting the spread of SARS, quickly creating a vaccine for the H1N1 virus, and tracing deadly foodborne outbreaks to their source. (Source: CDC Responds to Contagion)
There is a scene in Contagion, Steven Soderbergh’s global mega-pandemic thriller, in which the scalp of a dead patient—played by one of the film’s biggest stars—is sliced open during an autopsy. A flap of marbled flesh flops limply over her forehead; in the screening I attended, this was definitely the moment that elicited the most grossed-out gasps. (Source:
‘Contagion’ Isn’t Just a Thriller… from The New Republic)
Contagion is full of shots likely to make germaphobes cringe; during the first quarter of the film, there are numerous closeups of people touching or handling everyday objects:
Soderbergh repeatedly uses the cinemographic style of lingering and focusing on the items and objects which are touched by the infected and become vectors (fomites) to infect other people.
About Contagion (2011)
Contagion plot summary
Soon after her return from a business trip to Hong Kong, Beth Emhoff (Gwenyth Paltrow) dies from what is a flu or some other type of infection; her young son soon follows. Husband Mitch (Matt Damon), however, seems immune. Thus begins the global spread of a deadly infection. For doctors and administrators at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control [Wikipedia]), several days pass before anyone realizes the extent or gravity of the new infection. They must first identify the type of virus in question and then find a means of combating it, a process that will likely take several months. As the contagion spreads to millions of people worldwide, societal order begins to break down as people panic.
As it turns out, the truth about viruses really CAN make a person panic, if a little time is taken to learn exactly what a virus is and what a virus can do.
Viruses are the most populous entity on earth; there are more viruses than there are bacteria. As you are reading this post, a virtually infinite, innumerable, certainly uncountable number of viruses are doing their thing all over the planet. One trait viruses share with truly living organisms is that they slowly evolve, gradually adapting to their environment. As a result, every so often – about once every couple of hundred years – a virus evolves into a form that is extremely, severely potent to human tissue. There is absolutely no doubt that this will happen again; it’s only a matter of time before the next killer virus appears among us.
Is a virus really alive?
Opinions differ on whether the virus is a true form of life, or whether viruses are merely organic structures that interact with living organisms. Viruses have been referred to as “organisms at the edge of life” – there is no scientific consensus about whether viruses actually live. A virus resembles a living organism in more than one way: they possess genes, they evolve by natural selection, and they reproduce by creating multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly. But the virus also differs from all other creatures in at least two important ways. Although viruses do have genes, they do not have a true cellular structure – and cells are often considered to be the basic unit or building block of life. Viruses do not have their own metabolism, and they are powerless alone; a virus requires a host cell in order to produce anything.
Resources: Contagion, 2011 medical thriller
- Contagion – IMDb (Rating: 72), Wikipedia
- How ‘Contagion’ spread to the big screen – CNN
- Review: CONTAGION – Daily Film Fix
- ‘Contagion’ Isn’t Just a Thriller. It’s a Defense of Big Government. – The New Republic
- Marion Cotillard – IMDb, Wikipedia – a beautiful brunette French actress
- Viral Math: R-Naught and Zarrella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness – Dan Zarella: The Social Media Scientist
Pandemics, related subjects
Viral mathematics (medical)
- Mathematical Modeling of Wildlife and Virus Zoonoses – NIMBioS Investigative Workshop – National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) – Excerpt: Modern biology has become more and more driven by the need for mathematical and quantitative methods to elucidate general phenomena arising from the complexity of interactions on the numerous spatial, temporal and hierarchical scales at which biological systems operate. The continuing expansion of experimental and observational methods which generate tremendous amounts of biological data require new mathematical methods and computational approaches to allow us to find patterns and evaluate hypotheses for how the biological world came to be and how it might change in the future.
- Viral Immunology from Math, a review of Virus Dynamics, a theoretical biology book (PDF)
- Books about viral mathematics on Amazon.com
-
Mathematical models of immune effector responses to viral
infections: Virus control versus the development of pathology (by Dominik Wodarz) Article abstract: This article reviews mathematical models which have investigated the importance of lytic and non-lytic immune responses for the control of viral infections. Lytic immune responses fight the virus by killing infected cells, while non-lytic immune responses fight the virus by inhibiting viral replication while leaving the infected cell alive. The models suggest which types or combinations of immune responses are required to resolve infections which vary in their characteristics, such as the rate of viral replication and the rate of virus-induced target cell death. This framework is then applied to persistent infections and viral evolution. It is investigated how viral evolution and antigenic escape can influence the relative balance of lytic and non-lytic responses over time, and how this might correlate with the transition from an asymptomatic infection to pathology. This is discussed in the specific context of hepatitis C virus infection. (© 2005 Elsevier B.V.)
The other type of viral math (media, not medical)
- The Math of Viral: Trying to use power laws and Metcalfe’s Law to understand how viral marketing actually works – Noah Brier
- Understanding Viral Growth [Marketing Math] – HubSpot Blog (Internet marketing)
- The science behind viral marketing (video) – SlideShare
Are viruses alive? Does a virus really live?
- Virus, Wikipedia
- Are viruses living? – article on Virology
- Are Viruses Alive? – Microbial Life Educational Resources
Although I’m quite loquacious here about what happens in Limitless, I am not revealing everything. You can still enjoy watching Limitless and encounter numerous surprises, even after reading this post about the exciting, smart drug-centered science fiction film; I’ve carefully omitted plenty of choice details about the movie, which I believe you will soon add to your list of movies to catch in the near future…
a more charming, helpful, intelligent persona blossoms almost instantly. Rather than descending into argument or making excuses about the late rent money, Eddie cleverly leads her into an enjoyable, keen conversation in which he actually helps her with some on-point academic suggestions, as if God himself were whispering in Eddie’s ear, telling him what to say! Not only is she impressed with the new Eddie, she’s totally turned on: the newly radiant Eddie talks his way into her heart; she gives herself to him.
Later that same day, Eddie personally delivers the manuscript to his publisher – who, incidentally, is obviously not expecting much in the way of quality writing. We soon learn through a series of voicemails that the publisher was actually stunned by the high quality of Eddie’s work and could hardly put it down. 
As Eddie evolves into a near-perfect version of himself, he attracts some unwanted attention – first by becoming a highly successful investor and day trader virtually overnight. After proving to himself that his financial and investment wizardry is real through consistently impressive gains, he decides to borrow funds from a questionable source.
Unfortunately, NZT withdrawal produces some brutal side effects which threaten to stall his meteoric ascent. Whenever Eddie runs out of pills (or is otherwise unable to take a dose when he needs it), the symptoms are severe – not unlike a withdrawal from strong opiates or pain killers: he can’t cope and becomes ill. With a dwindling stash of NZT and mysterious hit men who will do damn near anything to get their hands on his pills, 
Eddie must maintain long enough to elude the thugs, impress high society, and fulfill his destiny. Without the pills, he will revert back to being the loser version of Eddie Morra – becoming just another average lump who thought he’d found invincibility in a bottle.
particularly the so-called 