As the world continues to battle a global epidemic, the domestic
spread of COVID-19 is affecting our daily lives in ways most of us have never
experienced before. Monroe County officially declared a state of emergency over
the weekend, and medical experts are urging everyone to practice social
distancing by remaining at home as much as possible.
Most local
art institutions have closed down at this point, and for the sake of
precaution, we’ll all be consuming entertainment from the comfort of our own
homes for the foreseeable future. We’ll need to find ways to entertain
ourselves, which means many of us are going to be getting our movie fix through
streaming services.
Where once
the endless viewing options available through a variety of streaming platforms
felt like an overwhelming deluge of content, it now seems more like a safety
blanket promising hours upon hours of entertainment exactly when we need it.
There are any number of places where one could begin, so why not start with a
roundup of the type of stories I’ve noticed more and more people turning to on
social media: movies about fictional pandemics.
Whether the
movies are the more far-fetched kind with zombies, or the variety slightly more
grounded in reality, it’s no surprise that people are drawn to them. They’re
ultimately stories about people finding ways to carry on in the face of
catastrophe. They allow us to observe how others respond to a similar crisis,
and seeing our natural fears formed into a clear-cut narrative arc can be oddly
comforting.
We’ve
compiled a few film recommendations (plus one non-fiction mini-series) to
choose from. And hey, even if such stories only serve to exacerbate your fears,
a little paranoia could be good: just the thing to inspire you to stay home,
self-isolate and not put others at risk any more than necessary. If things
continue on this current path, I promise to return with some more uplifting
recommendations soon enough.
“12 Monkeys”: If you’re looking for
something with a sci-fi bent, you can’t go wrong with Terry Gilliam’s eccentric
genre classic, starring Bruce Willis as a convict sent back in time from the
year 2035 to prevent a pandemic that will be responsible for wiping out most of
the world’s human population.
“28 Days Later”: Danny Boyle’s
influential horror film picks up after a mysterious, deadly virus known as Rage
has ravaged the UK, as a handful of survivors band
together to find sanctuary. Since its release viewers have debated whether the
film technically qualifies as a zombie movie, but as with many in its genre,
the biggest threat to survival turns out to be other humans.
“Contagion”: It’s the pandemic movie
that’s been burning up the rental and streaming charts the past few weeks, and
with good reason. Steven Soderbergh directs an
all-star cast (Gwenyth Paltrow! Matt Damon! Kate
Winslet! Jude Law! Laurence Fishburne!) in this terrifying procedural focusing
on the various healthcare professionals, government officials, and average
citizens who find themselves in the grip of a worldwide epidemic while the CDC
works to find a cure.
“Osmosis Jones”: Probably the strangest
film here, this comedy blends animation and live-action (Bobby and Peter Farrelly direct the live-action segments, while the animated
sequences are directed by Tom Sito and Piet Kroon) as
it follows a white blood cell (voiced by Chris Rock) and a cold pill (David
Hyde Pierce) as they team up to stop a deadly virus from destroying the human
(Bill Murray) they live inside.
“Outbreak”: Wolfgang Peterson’s
action-thriller centers in a small California town that’s quarantined after
becoming ground zero for deadly Ebola-like virus brought to America by an
African monkey. I still remember watching this one in theaters as a kid and
shrinking down in my seat during the scene that tracks the path of an airborne
virus around a movie theater auditorium, trying desperately to stifle my need
to cough. It’s an existential terror that’s never quite left me.
“Pontypool”:
A radio station disk jockey is stuck broadcasting as a deadly virus spreads
through his Ontario town. This Canadian horror flick is a zombie infection film
with a fascinating twist: what if a virus was spread not through physical
contact but through language?
“Right at Your Door”: This
claustrophobic thriller follows a man isolated in his home after a dirty bomb
detonates in downtown Los Angeles while his wife is at work. When authorities
place the city under quarantine and advise people to seal up their homes, he’s
faced with a difficult choice when his wife returns home.
“Train to Busan”: A businessman and
his daughter board a train from Seoul to Busan as an epidemic begins tearing
through South Korea in this excellent horror-action film. Only time will tell
what kind of effect the current coronavirus pandemic will have on the movie
industry, but there’s a sequel due out at some point later this year. So,
fingers crossed.
“Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak”:
Check this one out if you’re hankering for something more fact-based. More reassuring
than you might think, this timely six-part documentary mini-series from Netflix
follows the capable professionals on the front lines of the battle against
influenza and their ongoing efforts to protect the world from the next global
outbreak.
Adam
Lubitow is a freelance writer for CITY. Feedback on
this article can be directed to becca@rochester-citynews.com.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2020.
