directed by Wolfgang Petersen
I’ve seen this film several times and each time I watch it as if I didn’t knew what’s about to happen. It isn’t a documentary, but it was based on a nonfiction book called “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston, which presents the danger of the filoviruses (including the very well known Ebola virus). In the film we have a made-up virus called Motaba. The story starts in 1967 in the jungle where plenty of people are suffering from a deadly fever. The US Army deals with it. How? You’ll see. Then we move 28 years later to Zaire where there’s an outbreak of Motaba. A group of American virologists go there to investigate the problem. They return to inform that there’s no need to worry about getting infected. Unfortunately, the host to the virus gets smuggled to the US. And this host is a capuchin monkey. The smuggler, his girlfriend and the man who took the monkey to his pet store catch the virus. Luckily, they are the only ones infected. The problem begins when the monkey gets released, those three die and the scientists realise that Motaba mutates. Now it’s enough to go to the cinema, breath in, breath out and done. You’re about to die in few days. Creepy? Horribly. I always feel uncomfortable thinking of this story, because it can actually happen. We hear about dangerous viruses somewhere on another continent and we don’t even worry about it. Because it’s there, not here. But we forget that we’re living in the 21st century now. Going to another continent takes around 10 hours. We already know how dangerous flying is when it comes to that. You get stuck in a tube with hundreds of different people. You never know who they are or what kind of illnesses they have. You may also catch a virus from a random person at the airport and you don’t even need to be travelling to the same country. If I destroyed the idea of your perfect holidays now, I’m sorry. I can just say that I also travel and “exchange viruses” with plenty of people. So far I’m fine. But this film gives you some food for thought. Besides, it’s full of amazing actors, such as Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr. or Patrick Dempsey. Despite the topic, it’s really pleasant to watch it.
My rating: 7/10
S.
I have nothing to watch 