A community in lockdown, medical experts helpless to stop it, political turmoil because of the after-effects.
Is this COVID 19. 2020? Nope – it’s Wolfgang Petersen’s OUTBREAK.
Twenty-five years ago, OUTBREAK depicted as authentically as possible what could happen if a strain of Ebola found its’ way via a monkey in Africa captured and sold on a trawler bound for San Francisco and brought without proper quarantine procedures into America to be sold to a pet shop owner in a town called Cedar Creek.
It begins simply with one victim affected, then during a screening at a local movie theatre the victim kisses his girlfriend and somebody inhales micro-droplets which soon spread.
Colonel Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) observes the panic and flies to the town to investigate, with help from scientist / ex-wife Roberta Keough (Rene Russo) and Brigadier General Billy Ford (Morgan Freeman). However, there is a deeper conspiracy at hand that goes beyond what is revealed…
More relevant in the context of what has been going on in the world with the COVID-19 crisis, OUTBREAK was a highly-effective – and contrasting – thriller to what was being shown at the time against the likes of films like THE FUGITIVE and IN THE LINE OF FIRE, acclaimed blockbusters that did the trick.
OUTBREAK has a lot more credibility on screen now. Just make sure you self-isolate as you watch it with family and/or friends.