A harrowing, heart-wrenching documentary depicting the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, "76 Days" is a heartbreaking cautionary tale, and an eye-opener for the spoiled American masses who want to downplay its severity.
Directors Weixi Chen and Hao Wu follow nurses and doctors in Wuhan locked down in a single hospital, cloaked in hazmat-type suits that make them indistinguishable from each other. Hopelessly overrun by sick patients, they're forced to keep the ill in a locked room until they have free beds.
We see children losing their parents, husbands and wives, babies born, all in the same hospital, at the same risk from a deadly virus. It is a real-life "Outbreak," and other sequences are even reminiscent of post-apocalyptic films and television shows.
But don't call this film entertainment. It's real and raw, a heartbreaking, often difficult-to-watch ordeal. The healthcare professionals often come across as gruff and insensitive to people who may well by dying, but seeing their plight helps you understand why they have to threaten to lock people out if they don't wait their turn. It's a nightmarish choice that they have to make, weighing the room they have to house patients against the needs of the increasingly angry mob of people behind locked doors.
And those who do get in--often elderly or infirm, some exhibiting severe symptoms, others more mildly ill, but all quarantined and unable to visit their loved ones. It's sobering footage that certainly has parallels with the plight of many Americans right now.
"76 Days" is one of those documentaries that sheds light on a difficult topic, which means many people will avoid watching it, while others, especially in this country, will take an indignant stance against it and dismiss it immediately. It takes a decidedly apolitical look at the virus, which of course is how it should be.
The reminder is stark, and the privilege of those who choose to flaunt its dangers is very real.