76 Days Pays Homage to COVID-19 First Responders in Wuhan

From the first images of a woman crying and being held back from saying a final farewell to her Dad, you know right away 76 Days is going to wreck your nerves and break your heart.  Like many of us, who would’ve thought eight months later America would still be in quarantine due to COVID-19 with over 200K souls lost.  It feels like we are truly living in our own version of a personalized sci-fi film.

But for health workers in Wuhan, China, the first 76 Days were crucial to identify, stabilize and desperately attempt to save those admitted.  Most patients can be challenging for a variety of reasons, but when you have Coronavirus, folks test themselves and those around them.

Directed by Hao Wu and Weixi Chen, this docs helps us understand through allowing a harrowing look inside the lockdown in four different Wuhan hospitals capturing struggles, yet human resilience in the battle to survive a pandemic of epic proportions. The doc focuses on a select few patients like a demented grandfather wearing every employee out consistently attempting to make a break for it while searching for his way home, brand new parents anxious to greet their newborn and a head nurse faced with the  daunting task of returning  personal items to family members of the deceased.  The tragedy and pain captured at every one of these moments was heartbreaking, all while dealing with the uncertainty of how this global airborne virus brings the world economy to a screening halt.

We witness firsthand how one’s body is ravaged by the virus with bloated hands, black fingernails, hair loss and shallow breathing due to decreased lung capacity.  The look of realization that comes across one family member when being handed the final possessions of her loved one broke me down to tears.  No one should have to endure such pain…ever.

It is my sincere hope that when audiences view this film, they will come the realization that this virus in not a hoax.  It doesn’t care if you are rich, poor, Democrat, Republican, European, American, young or old.  It is a deadly and strikes consistently unexpected.  Cherish and take care of yourself and those you love.  You never know if today is the last moment of any of your lives.

Distributed by MTV films, 76 Days is a must see.