Mark Question
Apr 29, 2020
Originally released in 2010 as "OUTBREAK: Anatomy of a Plague"
Before there was Wuhan Coronavirus, there was Dr. Tam's imaginary outbreak...
This feature-length documentary, based on Michael Bliss’s 1991 book Plague: A Story of Smallpox in Montreal, juxtaposes a hypothetical 21st century pandemic with the 1885 smallpox epidemic that claimed over 2,500 lives in Montreal. A string of fatal errors and mishaps, including a tainted batch of vaccines, fostered panic and mistrust in a city already divided by language, religion and class. Outbreak: Anatomy of a Plague addresses renewed fears of bio-warfare and consults contemporary public health experts about the potential implications of a modern pandemic, including social unrest and economic ruin.