Why Matt Hancock may have missed the key message of pandemic film Contagion: Anthony Clavane

There have been two types of movie watchers during the Covid-19 era. Some viewers have spent countless hours glued to light entertainment escapist fantasies and comedies. The rest have been into dystopian films about pandemics, plagues, and diseases.

I fall into the latter category. And it appears I am in good company. Well, important company at least.

A couple of days ago several newspapers revealed that Matt Hancock was obsessed with Contagion. I am not obsessed, exactly, but I do think it is a 
very fine film. At last, something I have in common with the health secretary. Apart from a penchant for pink ties.

It might seem strange to be “enjoying” apocalyptic disaster movies at this particular moment in time. I wonder if Matt has seen Escape From New York, 28 Days Later or even Dawn of the Dead? All classics.

The serious point is that, unlike those stellar offerings, the Gwyneth Paltrow picture has disturbing similarities with the coronavirus crisis. Released a decade ago, it is eerily prescient of a brutal pandemic which, for almost a year now, has gripped the world.

The plot features a bat in China infecting a pig. A scientist warns that the virus is spread through people touching their faces. Conspiracy theorists spread false rumours about vaccinations. People are encouraged to wash their hands and socially distance.

I am wary about politicians banging on about their favourite films. Or, indeed, their favourite books, plays and songs. Knowing that these scheming, unscrupulous figures enjoy the same things as me diminishes the pleasure of it all.

I used to think Citizen Kane was a masterpiece until Donald Trump declared it to be his number one movie. I suppose it’s an apt choice, given it’s about a megalomaniacal magnate corrupted by his vast wealth.

And I was devastated when Boris Johnson claimed the greatest scene in celluloid history was, “the multiple retribution killings at the end of The Godfather”.

Still, it no doubt inspired the PM’s “bloodbath of the Remainers” moment, when he kicked out 21 Tory rebels; only business, not personal.

Whether it be dictators like Kim Jong-il enthusing about James Bond, his son Kim Jong-un being a big fan of Jackie Chan and Saddam Hussein investing millions in an Oliver Reed movie, or British political leaders testing their Desert Island Discs out on focus groups (does Keir Starmer really love Northern Soul and Grime?) – it is hard to trust the entertainment choices of such a Machiavellian breed.

Liking a film is one thing, but it was reported that Hancock’s obsession with Contagion was driving the Government’s vaccine strategy.

According to a former Department of Health and Social Care adviser: “He was constantly referring to the end of the film. He was always really aware from the very start, first that the vaccine was really important, second that when a vaccine was developed we would see an almighty global scramble for this thing.” The minister, it seemed, wanted to make sure that Britain came top in the race.

This kind of vaccine nationalism demonstrates a dangerously narrow approach to what is, after all, a global crisis. A global pandemic which illustrates just how interconnected the world is.

Indeed, the epidemiologist who advised on Contagion – Ian Lipkin – insisted it actually warned of the dangers of jingoism.

As Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, noted: “A pandemic is not a league table. Vaccinating the population quicker than other countries should not be a source of pride. It is instead evidence of a global failure to grasp the very nature of a pandemic – a stupendously shortsighted act of collective self-harm.”

The message of Hancock’s favourite film is surely this: we are not safe until everyone in the world is safe.

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