Contagion started out by showing a few people becoming sick. Their symptoms included severe headaches, cold symptoms, and difficulty swallowing. On day 4 of the sickness, Matt Damon’s wife (Beth) dies. He knew they were both sick but did not think it was that serious until his wife came home and started having a seizure on the kitchen floor. Once she started foaming out of her mouth, he knew this was no normal sickness. Mitch (Matt Damon) then went back to the hospital for further tests to make sure he was not sick, and got the notice that his wife had passed. He begged to see her but was told it was not safe until his tests were done. Once he was cleared to leave, on his way home, he got a call from the babysitter saying his son was sick and had a headache. He rushed to the house but it was too late, he was dead with the same symptoms that his wife had.
Two days later, he went back to the hospital to get more tests, when his daughter from a previous marriage appears. He tells her to go see her mother, concerned for her safety, but she insists she stays with him. The next day, 3 nurses and 2 other children die at the school Mitch’s son attended and the school had to be shut down. This was all over the news and now the world knows that a disease is spreading widely and very fast. Then the doctors get the results of Beth’s autopsy that show traces of bat and pig DNA in her system, so the disease most likely came from an infected bat. Mitch also learns that his wife’s flight had a lay over in Chicago in which she cheated on him and visited her x-husband. Once Mitch found out that her x-husband was infected, he knew this was going to spread rapidly.
During the next few days, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) tries to solve a cure for this disease. One man, however, posts on his blog that he has the cure for the disease now called MEV-1 and shows how it worked for him. He is saying the government is running a conspiracy against the world and made the disease themselves. A couple weeks later, the news came on and said the government has found a cure for MEV-1 but will not be available in stores for 3 months.
After the 3 months pass, the government starts calling off random birthdays to receive the first vaccines. Even though Mitch’s daughter does not get one the first day, they still have hope since she does not yet have symptoms of the virus. In the meantime, Allen, who was the one that said he had a cure for the virus, gets his blood work back which shows that he was never effected by the virus. The lead detective (Cheever) puts Allen in jail but he posts bail with the money he made from selling his vaccine. Once Cheever gets his 2 vaccines for himself and his wife, he gives one to his wife then heads to the janitor’s house to give it to his son who has been sick.
The last day of the movie shows what Jody (Mitch’s daughter) has been waiting for. She finds a box in her room and inside it is a note from her father telling her to be ready ay 8:00 with a dress. She goes downstairs and the living room is set up as if it were prom night since she is not aloud to leave the house. Then there is a knock on the door and it is her boyfriend Andy. While they are dancing downstairs as if it was their prom, Mitch is upstairs looking for his camera. He finds it, turns it on, and sees pictures of his wife Beth which makes him kneel down and start crying. He goes downstairs and takes a picture of his daughter and her boyfriend while watching them dance.
Finally, the movie shows what caused this epidemic. A construction company that Beth worked for was seen cutting down trees in China. This caused bats to fly out of the trees, including the one who was first infected by the virus. The bat is then seen dropping a banana that had its DNA on it into a pigs den. A pig then goes on to eat the banana, and the pig eventually gets slaughtered at a meat factory. A chef at the restaurant that Beth was at handled the pig, came out and posed for a picture with Beth while holding her hand, and that is what caused the global epidemic.
The movie Contagion helped opened my eyes on what could happen in the world today. Not just that we should eat healthy/ watch what we eat, but also anything is possible. Take care of what you can and let the rest fall into your hands. It taught me that the average person touches their face at least 100 times a day, and if us individuals can limit that, things like this might happen a lot less. Overall, be careful of what we eat/touch/smell etc… because now a days, anything can be harmful to us.
