MovieChat Forums > Contagion (2011) Discussion > Two things that bothered me...

Two things that bothered me...

posted 10 years ago by deantown20
8 replies | jump to latest

The population of Minneapolis, MN is NOT 3.3 million.

Matt Damon's reaction to hearing his wife died..."can I go talk to her?" I get he was acting as if he was in denial/shock, but that sequence could have been done better.

[–] BunnyCake 10 years ago

I got the feeling he was supposed to be in shock, but it didn't come off well. It lasted about a millisecond and then he was acting normally. Should have edited that scene a bit!

These kids today, with their hula hoops and fax machines.

[–] Vashramana 10 years ago

The metro area of Minneapolis is roughly 350,000...although when they list a city's population they include the entire surrounding area which in this case is between 3.3 and 3.4 million people. They did this with all of the cities.

[–] EveryDayFriend 10 years ago

True. And in the case of Minneapolis, that typically includes the 11-county area: Hennepin, Ramsey, Dakota, Washington, Scott, Carver, Wright, Sherburne, Anoka, Isanti & Chisago.

[–] EJverh 10 years ago

I was very disappointed with Damon's performance in the entire film, that started off with this pretty bad scene. It's like he didn't really want to be in this film and didn't try on purpose.

[–] savagesteve13 10 years ago

Damon's character was essentially in shock and disbelief at the sudden loss of his wife and son, not to mention all the crazy stuff going on around him in a very short period of time. He only gives in to grief and emotion at the end of the movie. Having suffered a personal loss myself I can understand that feeling, it takes quite a while for it to sink in and I was an emotional zombie for a month.

[–] enigma-lake 9 years ago

Agreed. Every board has people complaining like "I wouldn't act like that"
Well everyone acts different. At least he didn't start screaming and fall to his knees and all that. Then I'd complain and say its too cliche

[–] juxtapose70 9 years ago

^  ^

"I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?"

[–] Elemenope153 8 years ago

I was very disappointed with Damon's performance in the entire film, that started off with this pretty bad scene. It's like he didn't really want to be in this film and didn't try on purpose.

If you are talking about the scene where he says "Okay, can I go talk to her?" after the doctor tells him "Unfortunately, she did die", you are uninformed as to what people's actual reactions are like when they receive that kind of sudden bad news. Matt Damon said in an interview about this movie that he was feeling very nervous about filming that particular scene and he didn't know how he should go about doing it in a realistic manner, so he went and asked some real ER doctors who've actually had to give the news many times to real people.
They told him that some people fall apart as soon as they hear, but there is a significant portion of people (when the patient dies suddenly and very unexpectedly) who just cannot digest the information; they are just not ready, and their mind wont let them believe it without at least a few seconds to let it sink in. I thought Matt Damon's acting was excellent in that scene, actually. It annoys me to see people laughing at it and calling the character/dialog stupid or unrealistic.

The first stage of grief IS denial, after all...

The way the scene was portrayed in the trailer (cutting straight from "Your wife is dead" to "WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!?") made the dialogue look hammy, but that's not how the conversation really went down in the film.