Not many around anymore, Drive-in Movie theaters are becoming a thing of the past. Places in movies such as Grease where Danny Zuko and Sandy would and hangout with their friends. But no longer do I have the fantasy that it only happens in movies. This past weekend I traveled all the way to Bellville, Illinois to go and enjoy the drive-in experience and see the newest movie out, Contagion.
40 minutes away and over the Missouri border, we had made it to our destination. Finding out that the drive-in layout included two huge screens in a parking lot with a convenience center in the middle. Making our way to our parking spot after paying for our tickets, we got settled and switch the radio to the designated station for the movies sound. With the sky getting darker and darker and a few more people joining the crowd, Contagion begins.
Thinking Contagion, directed by Steven Soderbergh’s and written by Scott Burns, was going to be another mere zombie movie with a terrible story and hilarious situations, I was shocked by the intensity of the movie. Not only did the story take me, as a viewer, on a voyage discovering where the virus, from the scientists stand point, came from but how it can be transferred and how serious it can become. With Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returning from a trip from Hong Kong, China, sick and weak she becomes the first to die in a matter of two days, leaving the doctors and surgeons curious and questioning her death.
Continuing, the movie, as the virus spreads from India to China, tells the thrilling story of a spreading pandemic virus that infects thousand in less than a month. From the viewpoint of the researcher and scientists, this movie gives movie goers a docudrama with impressive intellectual and emotional views. With the perspective of the characters from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to the blogger, the director and writers took this movie into many paradigms.
With outstanding actors including Matt Damon, Kate Winslet Laurence Fishburne and Jude Law, the movie is never boring. With everyone racing to find the cure and vaccine, no one is safe from the chaos and pandemonium or even a fellow neighbor.
As the story ends, more and more people die, and new twists and turns are created by the people surrounding the sickness. Not only did I relate to the sadness and despair of the characters but also struggled to watch them fight to stay alive and their battles for self preservation. Through fighting, and crying, and questioning what will happen, the movie takes you as a viewer to an unexpected ending. With many questions left unanswered, you can only hope at the end of this movie, this never happens to us.
Driving away from the movie theater, I came to find my experience of drive-in movies was not only sad and depressing but also very enjoyable. Closing my eyes, I drifted off into oblivion. With the clock striking 10:30 pm and my head a blur I was thrilled I didn’t need to walk a mile to get to our car. I will go back, not only did I get out of an expensive movie ticket but also the never ending search for a good parking spot.
