Hello Meltingpot Community,
Please reach through your computer screen and slap me. Hard. Last night, in the spirit of family bonding, I watched Outbreak with son number two. He’s fifteen and loves horror films. I don’t. Needless to say, we have very different taste in movies. I do like thrillers though, so I agreed to watch Outbreak because it was the closest thing to a zombie apocalypse movie I was willing to sit through. Plus, I thought maybe I’d learn something about our current Corona circumstances.
Outbreak the Movie
After all, Outbreak is the number three movie trending on Netflix right now, so I figured there must be something good about it. And there was. I mean honestly, a movie that stars Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Donald Sutherland promises some fine acting if nothing else. And these guys didn’t disappoint. Cuba Gooding, Jr. also did a great job playing his best type of role, earnest, energetic sidekick.
For those who haven’t watched Outbreak (yet) the plot is pretty basic. A fast-moving, deadly virus arrives in a small town in America and the government has a short time to try to contain it before it obliterates the entire US population. Unlike Corona2020, this invented illness is 100 percent lethal and victims die within 48 hours of contracting it. Also, bloody eyeballs and pus-filled blisters are involved.
Outbreak vs Corona
The good thing about the movie is that it shows, in an overly dramatic but very convincing way, how easy it is to spread an airborne illness. It also shows, how important it is to stay quarantined, as well as how bad Americans are at following orders that appear to infringe upon their freedom of movement. In the movie, the military was needed to violently restrain people from breaking quarantine barriers. Based on the latest tomfoolery I’ve seen in Florida and California, we may need such measures to keep Americans in their homes right now.
But I digress.
Overall, I did find Outbreak to be entertaining enough to keep me engaged in the storyline and clutching my son’s hands during key moments of suspense. But people, I was a hot mess last night and COULD NOT fall asleep until close to 2:00am! I kept thinking I caught the Cornoa virus when I ran to the grocery store earlier in the evening to pick up some last minute essentials before Pennsylvania officially started enforcing their new lockdown procedures. It didn’t help that friends from Spain warned me that I should basically burn anything I wore into the grocery store or else we’d be in the same place that they are. Which is not a good place at all.
And then the Freak Out Starts
Friends, I woke up this morning and literally bleached everything I bought from the grocery store yesterday plus some extra stuff. I washed all of my fruit in soapy water, including the bananas and stood out in the rain to wash any germs off my down coat. I also sprayed everything I could with Lysol.
Moral of this story. Stay informed, but don’t watch movies that exaggerate the situation we’re in right now. I know Outbreak was fiction, but the premise felt all too real.
Of course my son loved the movie and wants to watch Contagion next. With me. I said no!
Better Movie Options Please!
How you are holding up Meltingpot community? What are you doing to pass the time with your older kids and teens? Please share so that we might all benefit from shared wisdom. Also, what movies should we be watching to uplift, entertain or distract us from this madness?
I am totally listening.
Peace!
