Yesterday afternoon my husband and I went to the movie, "Contagion," starring Matt Damon, Gywneth Paltrow and a few other big names (which made for a great cast.) It was nice to see Elliott Gould whose work I've always liked. I hadn't seen him on the big screen for years, and I wished he'd had a larger role.

Back to the topic at hand, Contagion is about the emergence of a pandemic flu and how the world would handle such an event.  I've read one account of the 1918 flu and although there is much that has changed in 93 years, especially medical and technological advances, some things will never change such as human nature.  To see if art meets science, I was interested in how the scientific community would speak to the film, if at all.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has devoted a webpage to the discussion of the Contagion film.  They've decided to use the film as a teaching moment.

The film is not over-the-top gory and it does transmit some helpful information.  If you liked The Andromeda Strain, as I did, you'll probably like Contagion.  Even so, it was still a creepy prospect. A large part of the film was set in Minneapolis, my home, which made me squirm. However, there was a moment of much needed tension-relieving humor in the theatre we were in. About 45 minutes into the film, someone sneezed really loud and everyone in the theatre burst out laughing.

Read about the CDC's response to the film here.

If you'd like to read a comprehensive account of the 1918 pandemic, I recommend The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John M. Barry.