Wuhan Wuhan Documentary | A Visceral Look At The Start of the Pandemic

The start of 2020 will be a period of time the world will never forget. By then, COVID-19 had been identified as a global pandemic and the entire world was in lockdown. Wuhan Wuhan explores this time at the location where the pandemic first emerged, Wuhan, China. 

While I was in the USA and just entering lockdown, Wuhan was already experiencing just how devastating this virus could be. Filmmaker Yung Chang and his team traveled to the heart of the pandemic and followed the stories of citizens affected by the virus. 

I was so impressed by this film. Even as a scientist, I really appreciated the look into how the virus affects people. It was easy for me to view COVID-19 from a scientific standpoint, to remove myself from it, and really just complain about being in lockdown and dealing with lab supply shortages. Wuhan Wuhan made me recenter the narrative and look at it from a different perspective. 

The documentary followed a couple expected a child in just a few weeks, a mother and son in quarantine at a temporary hospital, a grumpy grandfather, doctors and nurses, and a psychologist who volunteered to tend to the healthcare workers and patients. I was worried that the documentary would be too emotional and graphic to view. While it did show the hardships at the height of the virus in Wuhan, it was not unbearable to watch. It was depicted in just the right way to show the severity of the pandemic while remaining respectful of the patients, the deceased, and their loved ones. 

Every person featured was unique and gave a much-needed perspective. I teared up watching healthcare workers take photos of their faces to print and tape onto their PPE. Being quarantined in a hospital must be daunting and having people care for you but being unable to see their face must not be any easier. 

We all have our own experiences with the pandemic, but it is so easy to forget about how the rest of the world deals with it. Wuhan Wuhan gave me a glimpse of what was going on in China when the pandemic was barely a concern here in the USA. It gave me a new appreciation for healthcare workers and science. It was heartwarming watching everyone come together to lift each other’s spirits and fight the pandemic. It was impressive that they were able to handle it so quickly and have not needed another lockdown since. Wuhan Wuhan showed me all of these things. Without it, I may not have ever had a real idea of how conditions were on the other side of the world. This is a must-see documentary for all and an enthralling reminder that we must work together to overcome challenges. 

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