CONTAGION
A thoughtful medical thriller best saved for home viewing.
Should You Watch It?
CONTAGION has a worthy center. Doctors serve others, sacrifice themselves, and work to save lives during a rapidly spreading outbreak. The film also includes positive prayers, references to Jesus Christ, and biblical elements of people giving their lives for others.
But the movie does not fulfill its potential. Its plot feels lackluster, with no real climax and multiple characters whose stories do not fully wrap up. Long explanations can make it feel like a science lesson, while the overall theme remains depressing.
The content is a concern but not the whole problem. Foul language and violence accompany the film’s portrayal of fear, selfishness, and chaos. Watch it at home if the moral elements interest you and your teenagers or adults can handle the darker material; otherwise, choose something more satisfying.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESA deadly virus begins spreading at an extremely rapid rate, creating a worldwide crisis. Doctors, government officials, and representatives of the World Health Organization race to understand the disease, discover where it began, and find a way to stop it.
As fear grows, people fight over food, homeopathic vaccines, and any means of protecting themselves. Meanwhile, medical researchers work to grow the virus and take the first step toward finding a cure.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means CONTAGION has real strengths but does not live up to its potential. The film has good cinematography and great actors, and its story contains meaningful moral elements.
Its major weakness is the script. The movie does not seem to have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and the lack of a real climax leaves some character stories unresolved. Extremely slow moments, long explanatory scenes, multiple characters, and a text-message sequence involving a teenage girl and her boyfriend weaken the drama.
At times, CONTAGION feels more like a science lesson than an action thriller. It is thoughtful in places, but not consistently riveting.
The Worldview
CONTAGION presents a strong moral emphasis on serving one another and laying down one’s life for others. Doctors put themselves in harm’s way to find cures and save people. Some characters cry out to God, and the film includes prayers, overt references to Jesus Christ, images of churches, and a cross above a Chinese school.
The film also portrays people as flawed and sinful. A health blogger is shown as a manipulative, greedy provocateur. Government officials try to do the right thing but are shown as less effective than private enterprise in solving a critical crisis. The story includes positive father-daughter relationships, including daughters who obey, support, and learn to serve through their fathers’ examples.
The worldview is diminished by implied adultery, second marriages, blackmail, kidnapping, and the film’s depressing focus on death. It does show the adulterous character suffering the wages of sin, but it does not offer a clearly defined redemptive conclusion.
The film’s strongest longing is for people to protect and save one another in a crisis. That sacrificial concern aligns with Jesus’ words: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Strong Christian worldview of serving one another and even laying down one’s life for one another with some positive prayers and overt references to Jesus Christ and images of churches and cross above Chinese school and women cries out to God, and some major moral points including father who will not let his teenage daughter kiss, father and daughter have a good relationship in which the daughter obeys her father and supports him, another father daughter relationship in which the daughter learns to serve because of her father being a good role model, doctors put themselves in harms way in order to find cures and save people, but diminished by adultery implied, although the adulterous suffers the wages of sin and health blogger is shown to be a manipulative, greedy provocateur while government is shown to not be as good as private enterprise for solving critical crisis issues although government is not shown as evil and tries to do the right thing and people are shown as flawed and sinful; five light obscenities, one “f” word, and five mostly exclamatory profanities; strong violence includes people shoving and pushing each other, implied man shooting and killing, autopsy showing women’s head being cut in half and peeled back; no sex scenes but implied adultery and young couple dances; no nudity; alcohol use; smoking and no illegal drugs, just medical drugs and homeopathic drugs; and, dysfunctional family portrayal with applied adultery and second marriages and man kidnaps women in order to save his village, and blackmail.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The doctors in the film serve others and put themselves in harm’s way. What does Jesus teach about sacrificial love, and where can you practice it?
John 15:13 · Philippians 2:3–4The story shows people becoming fearful and selfish during a crisis. How can Christians respond differently when others are afraid?
Philippians 2:14–15 · 1 Peter 3:15The film includes prayers and people crying out to God. What should we bring to God when circumstances feel frightening or uncertain?
Psalm 46:1–3 · Philippians 4:6–7The movie portrays doctors helping and saving people. How can your family honor people who serve their neighbors?
Galatians 5:13 · Hebrews 13:16The Final Word
CONTAGION offers strong moral elements, positive references to Jesus Christ, and good acting, but its weak structure, slow pace, depressing theme, foul language, and violence make it better for home viewing. For a more satisfying family choice, see.
