Pandemic (2007)

After a nineteen-year-old male dies on a flight following a raging fever and violent convulsions, CDC epidemiologist Dr. Kayla Martin (Tiffani Thiessen) and her partner Carl Ratner (French Stewart) consider the frightening possibilities—the reality of the bird flu, the probability of a biological attack, or worse, a new virus they can’t control. But by the time the passengers of the flight are filtered into the ward of a local hospital, the infection is already poisoning sections of Los Angeles, unbeknownst to each victim who passes it on. The virus is spreading, and so is the panic and the fear that it can’t be stopped. Also featuring Faye Dunaway and Eric Roberts, Pandemic is now available for the first time on DVD in an extended version with all-new bonus material. Grab Pandemic…time is running out!

Superb and worhty of public attention

It was a very long flight to Oakland (to attend Bioneers), and this movie got me through the last two hours. It is superb. It should be required viewing for every citizen, every official, every foundation leader, every elected person. It is well-crafted, credible, absorbing, and thought-provoking.

Highlights:
* How the selfishness of one "run-away" infected person can kill tens of thousands and defeat the pre-quarantine containment process.
* Failure to control *each* passenger by name in the delicate transition from infected aircraft to controlled environment is the one thing that can destroy a containment.
* Failure to be candid with citizens and put public ran-away notice with photo of the run-away makes the situation much worse. Failure to tell the run-aways office workers and home family the exact threat they represent negates their value in bringing the run-away in before they infect hundreds more directly, thousands indirectly.
* The movie provides a fascination depiction of the scientific investigative process, while also depicting the political tensions among the Mayor, the Governor, and others, each seeking to balance archaic political calculations with unknown biological "runaway train" implications.
* The movie reminds us that a run-away worst impact is among first responders who missed the alerts and begin to die as fast as the people they are treating.
* The utility of ice rinks as emergency morgues for hundreds of bodies.

Overall this is a great movie with a fine plot including a worst case break-out of a convicted drug lord, and what happens when people turn off the radio or silence the witness before they can complete a sentence that begins "it's not so simple."

NOVA: Epidemic - Ebola, AIDS, Bird Flu and Typhoid
Congo
Not listed on Amazon: Hot Zone with Dustin Hoffman

October 19, 2007

Not too bad

Not too bad.... Was entertaining - but some of the subplots were just a tad too improbable for me. I think there should have been more focus on the public's panic. August 15, 2007

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