Pandemic Movies to Watch at Home

Since people are working from home amid this period, we want to highlight a list of some movies which are based on pandemic outbreaks. You can see what kind of people deal logically with the outbreak and what kind of people act differently from them. We hope the concept of how the characters in the movies react to the pandemic and deal with it, can provide us knowledge.

Contagion (2011)

This is the first movie that comes into my mind when I started making this list. It was released in 2011 and includes top actors such as Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon. The movie begins by showing a pig who ate a fruit which was dropped from a bat in Hong Kong and people who touched, cooked and ate that pig. Then, it continues by how the virus came to the United States, how it began spreading, how millions of people died from the virus and how the government and doctors researched about the origin of the virus. And you can see what kind of actions are taken once the virus outbreak begins.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law & more.

Outbreak (1995)

This movie which was released in 1995 can be titled as a contemporary classic among pandemic movies. With top actors such as Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey, Outbreak shows the outbreak of imaginary Motaba virus, which is similar to Ebola, in Africa and transmitted to the United States. The movie highlights the consequences of illegal animal trade by showing that the virus, which is transmitted through air, started from a monkey.

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman & more.

Flu (2013)

This Korean movie was released in 2013 and is directed based on a type of H5N1 virus. The virus was transmitted to Seoul from illegal immigrants to South Korea. The infected people become sick, vomit black blood and die within 36 hours. And when the government imposes quarantine in the Bundang area where the virus started, citizens face the virus outbreak as well as other social issues.

Directed by Sung-su Kim
Cast: Hyuk Jang, Soo Ae, Roxanne Aparicio & more.

Containment (2016)

This British movie highlights the behaviour and actions of people who are in quarantine due to a pandemic, rather than highlighting the pandemic outbreak. Characters in the movie are quarantined inside the apartments with no electricity, no water and no communication with the outside world. They can just hear “Stay Calm. The situation is under control.” from the intercom constantly and people wearing Hazmat suits can only be seen on the streets. How do people react when all they know is that a virus has been spread without knowing or receiving any explanations about it? You can search Containment (Infected) 2015 Full Movie on YouTube.

Directed by Julie Plec
Cast: David Gyasi, Christina Moses, Chris Wood & more.

Virus (2019)

This Indian movie was released in 2019 and is based on the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala State in 2018. The virus was transmitted from fruit-eating bats, killing 17 people. The virus can cause inflammation of the brain with symptoms including vomiting, nausea and the infected can go into coma or even die within 24 to 48 hours. Almost all characters from the movie are based on real-life doctors and patients.

Directed by Aashiq Abu
Cast: Parvathy Thiruvothu, Tovino Thomas, Madonna Sebastian & more.

The Painted Veil 

This movie is based on the novel of Somerset Maugham and includes Edward Norton and Naomi Watts. You can see the conflicts between the British doctor and his wife who came to a small village in China for a cholera epidemic around 1930 and how the doctor tried to gain the trust of the villagers there. This is more like a love story based on the pandemic outbreak.

Directed by John Curran
Cast: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber & more.

Hope you enjoy it. Stay safe, #stayhome everyone!