Not only did the film gross $120 million at the box office, a commercial success, but it also made people feel the eerie horror between the film and reality. Because around the time of the film's release in March 1995, congo happened to have its third large-scale outbreak of Ebola.
Unlike reality, the film is based on a novel by American writer Richard Preston called "Blood Plague Entry", which was also adapted into an American drama of the same name in 2019. So in the novel, although "Motaba" is used as the name of the virus, in fact, it is the real Ebola virus.
At the beginning of the film, a conclusive statement was released: the biggest threat to human domination of the earth is the virus. This sentence comes from the mouth of Nobel laureate Joshva Liedbergh, invisibly covering the entire film with shadows.
In July 1967, a contagious virus broke out among U.S. troops somewhere in the Congo, leaving soldiers with festering skin and deliriousness. When the U.S. military sent epidemic prevention experts for treatment, they secretly found that the virus could not be cured immediately.
When the remnants of the soldiers thought they could still be rescued, what awaited them was a bombing bombing.
In 1995, Sam, played by Dustin Hoffman, was working as a dog slave at home when he was notified by his unit to go to the Congo to deal with a contagious virus incident. Then, Sam and Cassie, kevin Spacey's old partner, came to the sick area.
After the on-site investigation, Sam informed billy, his boss played by Morgan Freeman, about the new virus called "Motaba", which, compared to Ebola, once infected, has a 100% fatality rate, and the time of death is within two or three days.
However, in the face of Sam's warning, Billy was unmoved, believing that Sam's concerns were purely unfounded. Because, in his view, the lethality rate of Motaba virus is so rapid, it is unlikely that it will spread from the Congo in Africa to the United States in North America.
Sam was forced to help out his ex-wife, Renee, at the Centers for Disease Control, hoping that she would convince her boss to issue a national announcement. Like Billy, Renee's boss thought it was a big deal.
But something that was overwhelming happened. Although it is impossible for humans with Motaba virus in the Congo to cross the Pacific Ocean alive, it is not impossible for monkeys with the virus, especially if the monkey still has antibodies. In simple terms, this monkey can transmit motaba virus to humans, causing it to die after infection, but it is safe and sound on its own. If you have seen David Cronenberg's "Rabies", you know that this kind of pit death does not pay for its life.
When the pathogen monkey was captured, it was first bought by a sailor, and within a few days, it was resold to a young man at an animal quarantine center. After the boy sold it to the pet shop owner unsuccessfully, the bane monkey was released into the forest by him.
During this time, the monkey infected all three of these people. The difference in results was that the sailor died first before he could infect anyone else; the quarantine boy infected his girlfriend before he died, but in the end only two of them died. The most serious consequences are the pet shop owner, who was treated by the hospital after he was infected, and during the treatment, the doctor in the hospital laboratory department accidentally splashed the blood of the virus into his mouth, thus infecting the Motaba virus.
Soon, while he was watching the movie, the coughing saliva splashed into the air, infecting the entire audience of the movie theater and spreading throughout the town.
From this infectious process, we can draw two conclusions: 1. Unknown viruses transmitted by wild animals are very easy for humans to get on, because we ordinary people can't identify wild animals infected with viruses. The new coronavirus that came out of Wuhan this time came from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, and according to the current official information, the source of the virus is wild animals.
2. The spread of viral infections. Among the three people who were initially infected by the virus in the film, the sailor died in isolation on the ship, and there was no major source of transmission; the young man at the quarantine station only had bodily fluid transmission with his girlfriend, but fortunately the two were treated in time and did not go to the crowd; the pet shop owner did not actually have contact with a large number of people, but the indirectly infected doctor splashed spit in the movie theater, which made the situation expand. Similarly, this new type of pneumonia happens to be in the time period when the flow of Chinese has changed the most - the Spring Festival, so whether it is other provinces, or asian countries Japan, South Korea, or even the United States, it will have the possibility of large-scale transmission at the time node of the Spring Festival.
Back in the movie, when the town in the film collectively broke out of the virus infection, the U.S. government immediately took lockdown measures. After learning this news, Sam took the initiative to ask his boss Billy to fight the virus in the disaster area, but Billy was transferred from the United States to Mexico to assist, this strange personnel transfer gradually exposed the dark truth hidden for 28 years.
It turned out that Billy and his colleague General McLean, who is now also in a high position, were the initiators of the bombing mission in 1967 to cover up the truth. After this, they have developed a serum to fight the Motaba virus, but out of the "biological weapon protection thinking", they have missed the best time to treat the current virus infection, when the virus is mutated in the human body, not only can it be transmitted through the air, but the previous anti-venom has been helpless.
The so-called biological and chemical weapons protection thinking is actually Billy and Maclean as soldiers, after they master the unknown virus of Motaba, through research, as a biological and chemical weapon to deal with potential enemies of the future United States. Therefore, even if they can treat their own patients, they will not easily take out the serum, so that the secret of this weapon has been exposed.
Therefore, in the second half of the film, there is a struggle between the humanitarians represented by Sam and Cassie and the "big picture concept" represented by Billy and Maclean. Sam, of course, advocates finding the carriers of the virus as soon as possible while sealing off the town, so as to develop antivenoms and cure all patients.
McLean's "big picture concept" resolutely defends the lives and interests of the vast majority of the American people, advocating the same as in 1967, the entire town should be flattened with bombs, so as to completely eliminate the spread of the virus.
Which side gets overwhelming support in the end, you may wish to look for the answer in the movie, I will not spoil here. Although, the conservatives represented by General McLean, because of their personal interests, caused thousands of residents of the town to miss the opportunity and thus died. Yet this evil setting aside, all of us may stand on two sides when confronted with both humanitarian and big-picture positions.
On the one hand, for the safety of the lives of nearly 10,000 people, risking the development of serums, and even the probability of success is less than 50%, and once the time is too long, the entire United States may become a hell on earth within 48 hours.
On the other hand, for the safety of hundreds of millions of people throughout the United States, thousands of people were directly deprived of the chance to survive with bombs.
In other words, how do you choose?
Back to reality, at the beginning of the outbreak of the new coronavirus pneumonia, in the face of Wuhan, the source of the disease, many Weibo netizens have made vicious remarks, insults and blockade ideas. This extreme idea of treating entire innocent groups as aliens for the sake of one's own safety is indeed chilling and frightening. Therefore, as many warm-hearted netizens said: please replace "stay away from Wuhan people" and "stay in Wuhan and don't come out" with "Wuhan stand up!" "Wuhan come on! ”
You know, for this nationwide virus infection, it is always more useful to unite as one than to build a high wall. Because when the virus appears in these people's cities, he probably won't dare to open his mouth "Please consider me an outlier" again!
Excerpt from special author "Rare Waste Customers"