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76 Days (12)
Directed by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous
★★★★
AS BRITAIN battles with its third lockdown, an ever-increasing death toll, plus “Covidiots” who flout the rules and believe it’s all fake news, this powerful fly-on-the-wall documentary is a sobering reminder of the human cost of Covid-19.
The film chronicles the outbreak of the pandemic at ground zero: Wuhan, from January 23 last year, when China locked down the city of 11 million people for 76 days to combat the disease. Rather than focusing on politics, the documentary centres on the human experience as it places you on the front line with the extraordinary medics, health workers and patients fighting this the emerging virus — a harrowing but eye-opening watch.
Given unprecedented access to a number of hospitals and their intensive care units in Wuhan, US writer-director Hao Wu edited the 200 hours of footage — shot cinema verite style — with the help of his co-director Weixi Chen, a video reporter for Esquire China, and Anonymous, a local photo journalist who didn’t want to be identified.
They captured the chaos and confusion of medical staff overwhelmed by the growing numbers of patients being admitted with a mystery virus.
The film follows numerous stories that highlight the struggles and the human will to survive. They include an elderly grandfather with dementia desperate to go home, a young couple aching to be reunited with their newborn baby and a nurse seen disinfecting the numerous personal effects of the dead, intent on returning them to their families, which proves heartbreaking.
What is also striking is how Wuhan residents stuck to the rules without question — wearing masks at all times and staying indoors — proven by images of apocalyptic-looking empty streets, unlike any places in Britain.
76 Days opens with the heart-wrenching images of a woman in full PPE sobbing as she says goodbye to her father and ends with air-raid sirens blaring out all over Wuhan on April 4 2020 (just four days before lockdown) to mourn all those who had died from Covid-19 as the city came to a standstill to honour them.
This is a film that every Covid denier, anti-vaxxer and anti-masker needs to be shown.
Maria Duarte
Available via video on demand January 22
