VIRUS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: A glitzy, glossy story of an Ebola
outbreak that sidesteps everything that would make
the story really interesting and turns it into a
cliched crime story. There is a much more
interesting story about Ebola going on in Zaire as
I write this. Rating: -1 (-4 to +4)
Riding the tide of the current interest in emerging viral diseases comes an NBC made-for-TV film, VIRUS, broadcast on Monday, May 8. This is Roger Young's adaptation of the novel OUTBREAK by Robin Cook with Armand Mastroianni directing. People who remember my review of the recent movie OUTBREAK know I have a very specific interest in fiction and non-fiction about emerging and extremely virulent diseases, especially Ebola. I suppose this is a morbid fascination, but in my uninformed estimation, and that of a few other people I have read, viral diseases, mostly being uncovered as Africa develops, constitutea greater threat to human life than nuclear weapons ever did. This is in large part because, for now at least (and contrary to expectation), humans are smart enough to restrain themselves from loosing the destruction that a nuclear war would bring. But a virus does not wait for human permission to break out. And the story of the Ebola virus is far from over. At the time OUTBREAK was released there had been three acknowledged outbreaks of Ebola. Ebola Zaire occurred in an isolated region and it burned itself out quickly. In some experts' opinions it is still not clear why Ebola Sudan did not become a worldwide catastrophe. (Ebola Reston, chronicled in Richard Preston's best seller THE HOT ZONE, apparently had only flu-like symptoms in humans.) Since OUTBREAK was released there came to light rumors of a fourth outbreak on the Ivory Coast last November. And as I write this the most important news story in the world--though certainly not the best covered by the news media--is that there is a fifth outbreak of Ebola in a population center in Zaire. We are very likely still at the really early stages of the story of the war between humans and the Ebola virus. We still do not know the animal host that serves as its breeding ground, and it keeps on breeding. And the forests of the world may harbor hundreds of such viral diseases with which humans have yet to make contact.
Well, on a lighter note we have this film run on NBC, based on the novel by Robin Cook. Cook is absolutely the wrong person to write a good thriller about Ebola. He writes stories about conspiracies in or near the medical community. When you are writing a story about a disease as dangerous as Ebola is all by itself, you do not need human bad guys. That is the same mistake that the film OUTBREAK made. Here it is not so much a mistake as a disaster. While OUTBREAK soured in the final third, this was a bad film almost from the word "go." This is primarily just a reprise of a favorite Hollywood plot of the damsel fighting the nasty conspiracy or evil people. Yes, this particular outbreak of Ebola is brought on as a plot by some nasty villains who have this reason why they want to see this potential worldwide cataclysm take place. The endangered damsel is Dr. Marissa Blumenthal (played by Nicollette Sheridan), a brilliant new hire at the Center for Disease Control. She just happens to be drop-dead beautiful, wears lots of makeup, and has carefully styled hair. She looks just exactly like any intelligent CDC doctor would never look. And she is very quickly getting all the plum responsibilities. Of course there is some suspicion that is because she is living with the influential Dr. Ralph Harbuck (William Devane who acted with Sheridan previously on KNOT'S LANDING). Her success seems odd because she seems to have to have explained to her some very obvious safety precautions in the maximum security lab (like negative air pressure so air blows in rather than out). And if you see nothing ridiculous in someone in so important a position knowing so little, wait until you hear the motive of the conspirators! I will not spoil the plot here, but it is a real doozy.
VIRUS is a poorly conceived thriller that sidesteps everything that really would be interesting about an Ebola outbreak in favor of an overused plot. I would give it a -1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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