TIFF 2020: Our Review of ’76 Days’

TIFF 2020: Our Review of ’76 Days’

When press notes ask you not to give details of the film that might help the Chinese Government persecute people who took part, you’ve got to take it seriously.

76 Days takes us to the initial response to COVID-19 during the Wuhan lockdown this winter.

To put it simply, 76 Days is the kind of fly on the wall journalism that while occasionally scary is just something that you can’t look away from.

There’s no human face to this movie because quite frankly the front line workers are fully head to toe in PPE and the patients all have masks on…but that’s kind of the point.

Directors Hao Wu, Weixi Chen & Anonymous have gone beyond making something that is any kind of political statement or social commentary but instead have documented a moment that has truly changed all of our lives on a global basis.  We can see the fear and anxiety but also the patience, humor and humility that is needed from both doctors, nurses and patients to truly be able to manage this crisis.

What 76 Days does is so vital as what New York based filmmaker Hao Wu does using the footage he got from the people on the ground is making something that is not only historical but vital in the human moment that we are all collectively sharing.  It reminds us that we can’t stop working and being vigilant because we collectively need each other to ensure we get through this as a species.

  • Release Date: 9/14/2020
This post was written by
David Voigt is a Toronto based writer with a problem and a passion for the moving image and all things cinema. Having moved from production to the critical side of the aisle for well over 10 years now at outlets like Examiner.com, Criticize This, Dork Shelf (Now That Shelf), to.Night Newspaper he’s been all across his city, the country and the continent in search of all the news and reviews that are fit to print from the world of cinema.
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