The 2020 Chinese-American Documentary film 76 Days directed by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and an anonymous third is available on YouTube and Dogwoof. It documents the situation in a Wuhan Hospital in China shortly after the beginning of the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of the city in February 2020 that lasted for 76 days. In an observational style it depicts the overwhelming chaos that suddenly hits the medical staff and their steady effort to get the situation under control.
During my Chinese classes at university I got to know lots of friends from China and because Wuhan is a partner City of my University most Chinese students I met are from there. I remember that when we celebrated Lunar New Year together in mid January 2020 the Virus wasn’t yet a big topic. After news came of the first lockdown in Wuhan just a week later I had some video and phone calls with friends trapped in the city or others who had just travelled to China to celebrate the New Year with their families and were stuck in other cities, because their hometown was shut off completely. At that time the conversations were all about hope that the situation gets better in China and everything will be alright for their families soon. Even in mid February when I was in talks with a Chinese filmmaker based in Germany about working for her Youth Film School Project in China that summer the concerns were still only about the development of the situation in China and if we would be able to travel there. Less than one month later the first lockdown started in Germany.
The film works as a time capsule to the beginning of the pandemic and shows the scenario for the Chinese medical staff of a hospital that was one of the first to have to deal with the new virus situation, suddenly caring for a far too high amount of for all sorts of patients: old, young, pregnant women, people who comply and people who become desperate or don’t understand the seriousness of the situation. Shortly after, this scenario will be experienced by medical staff all around the world in each and every country. Working endlessly under extreme stress and pressure to help everyone in need then and still to this day, two years later. To witness these situations is shocking and sad but to see all the effort that is put in to fight against the virus and not giving up on hope in spite of so much chaos and death serves as a great example of what humanity is capable of.
Rent the film: 76 Days (dogwoof.com)
Also available on YouTube with ads: