By Charlie Denison, contributing writer
What a time we find ourselves in! If you’re like me and enjoy watching movies that are relevant to the world’s situation, this article is for you. If not, well, these movies could still do you good, as they are excellent reminders that we’re going to be OK. There are things we can learn from these films, and there are also reminders that the COVID-19 – although a serious threat – is not the end of the world.
The strands the world faces in these films are far greater than the coronavirus. Count your blessings.
Outbreak (1995)
Outbreak starts with a quote that’s sadly and strangely relevant:
“The single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.”
Currently a Top 10 watch on Netflix, Outbreak is nostalgic, prescient, and puts our current crisis into perspective.
In Outbreak, the fast-acting Motaba virus has a mortality rate of 100 percent, whereas the coronavirus has a far less threatening mortality rate (for those 80 and older, the coronavirus mortality rate is around three percent worldwide).
Nevertheless, COVID-19 is a clear threat, especially when we live in a nation that spreads fear as much – if not more – than it does microbes.
So many of us originally did not believe the fear to be justified. Hoffman’s character, Sam, experiences this firsthand. Just like in Wuhan, the whistleblower was persecuted.
No one wants to believe the reality of the crisis, but denial doesn’t solve a thing. The only way to shut it down is to isolate those who are sick and try to wipe out the virus once and for all.
There is an exchange between Major Casey Schuler (Kevin Spacey trying too hard to be cool) and Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) that captures our current reality (and current attitude) in a nutshell:
Casey: I hate this bug.
Sam: Come on, Casey, you have to love its simplicity. It’s one billionth our size, and it’s beating us.
Casey: What do you want to do? Take it out to dinner?
Sam: No.
Casey: What, then?
Sam: Kill it.
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen (Air Force One, Troy) Outbreak is more of an action-adventure thriller than a plausible drama. It’s also a bit of a love story, although I wouldn’t say there are sparks between Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo.
The Andromeda Strain (1971)
When I mentioned this column to my dad, he recommended that I include this virus-related sci-fi thriller by a young Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Westworld). Crichton’s best ingredients are here: a suspenseful and believable premise, colorful, complicated characters, and an abundance of one-liners, many of which belong to Dr. Ruth Leavitt (Kate Reid): “This is a great place to grow pot,” “I never liked red lights – reminds me of my years in a bordello,” and “establishment is gonna fall down and go ‘boom.’”
Directed by Robert Wise (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Haunting), The Andromeda Strain starts when a U.S. research satellite carrying an extraterrestrial microscopic organism “larger than a virus” crashes into the small town of Piedmont, New Mexico, killing everyone there but a 6-month-old baby and a “69-year-old Sterno drinker with an ulcer.” The impact the alien microbe has on humans is so powerful it “cuts them down in mid-stride,” according to a scientist who surveys the scene.
Released three years after Stanley Kubrick’s space masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Andromeda Strain has a similar pace, which adds to the suspense as the climax builds. Most of the action takes place at Vandenberg Air Force Base, where the chosen scientists of Project Scoop try to identify and combat this mysterious contamination.
One of the most prescient scenes comes when Dr. Mark Hall (James Olson) meets Medcom operator Karen Anson (Paula Kelly). The conversation they have about the virus is one we’ve all been hearing these last few weeks:
Hall: “This sort of thing is new to me.”
Kelly: “It’s new to all of us… I’m scared. I never believed this could really happen.”
Hall: “Well, it’s happened.”
The scientists prove that other forms of life exist in the universe, but they can’t guarantee something like the Andromeda strain couldn’t return again, nor do they know if they’ll be ready.
“What do we do about that?” a Senator from Vermont asks Dr. Jeremy Stone (Arthur Hill).
“Precisely, Senator,” he says. “What do we do?”
Contagion (2011)
This star-studded sleeper hit by director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic) is obviously getting the most attention right now, and you can see why. Not only is it the most recent outbreak feature, but it’s also the most relevant: a virus spreading in the social media era. Even where it starts and how it starts is eerily prescient: Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) of Minnesota picks it up in China.
The way the virus (MEV-1) is handled feels plausible, and isn’t much different than what’s been happening today.
This is especially clear when Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) of the CDC is interviewed on a news program.
“Right now our best defense has been social distancing: no handshaking, staying home when you’re sick, washing your hands frequently,” he tells the show host.”
There are many times in this film you could think they’re talking about the coronavirus. Cheever also says, “In 1918, one percent of the population died of the Spanish flu. It was novel, like this. No one had ever seen it before.”
The film also sheds light on the difficult task of getting accurate news out to the public. They set this tone from the get-go, as Dr. Ian Sussman (Elliott Gould) tells Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law), “Blogging is not writing – it’s graffiti with punctuation.”
Cheever later shares similar concerns and the words are once again directed at Krumwiede, who is trying to expose the truth that the government knew about the severity of the virus before they got it out to the public, albeit in a tremendously self-serving way.
“What we do know is that in order to become sick you have to first come in contact with a sick person or something that they touched. In order to get scared, all you have to do is come in contact with a rumor or the television or the internet,” Cheever says. “What Krumwiede is spreading is far more dangerous than the disease.”
Cheever and Rear admiral Lyle Haggerty (Bryan Cranston) have a conversation about this behind closed doors:
Haggerty: When the word gets out, there will be a run on the banks, gas stations, grocery stores, you name it.
Cheever: People will panic. The virus will be the least of our worries. It will tip over now.
Haggerty: We just need to make sure nobody knows… until everybody knows.
The virus they face in Contagion had a mortality rate of 25-30 percent, which is far greater than the coronavirus. The disease in the film would kill one in four, the CDC estimated. More than 70 million could die barring a vaccine.
Our nation is trying to prevent the death of more than a million, which is still far too many.
It could be worse, yes, but it’s pretty bad. Panic is real, and owe can’t let it get the best of us. Hoarding is not advised, as we must think of others, but we are not overreacting to this crisis by stocking up. We must get what we need, stay home, and beat this by flattening the curve.
And if you’re really in a dystopian mood…
12 Monkeys (1995)
Could the coronavirus wipe out the human race?
That’s the case with the manmade virus in 12 Monkeys, but fortunately that’s not what we are facing. However, coronavirus could forever change our way of life as we know it. When are things going to return to normal? The truth is we may never know; we may look at society as before coronavirus and after coronavirus.
All that said, there indeed will be life after the coronavirus. We won’t have to send a prisoner like James Cole (Bruce Willis) back in time to look for clues and try to prevent it from starting in the first place.
In 12 Monkeys, Cole doesn’t exactly seem up for the challenge of saving the world, and it’s clear he’s more of an experiment than a “chosen one,” as time travel is trial-and-error. At one point, Cole ends up in the trenches during World War I. He’s lucky he didn’t catch the Spanish Flu on that visit.
12 Monkeys is a wild, messy, weird ride from director Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Time Bandits) with a kooky performance by Brad Pitt as Jeffrey Goines (which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor). It’s just absurd enough to be timely.
Charlie Denison is a freelance writer, musician, and award-winning journalist who lives with his wife in Lewistown, Montana. He studied film at the University of Kentucky and has been a loyal DVD Netflix member since 2009. Find him on Twitter at @charliebigsky.