We have just one more week of Disaster Month and thus far, we’ve looked at films that have managed to stay fairly well remembered in the collective consciousness of pop culture. However, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t at least try to push your viewing boundaries a little and as promised, we’re looking at a multinational effort on a grand and sweeping scale, the likes of which hadn’t really been done before.
Virus, or Day of Resurrection as the the Japanese title translates is an interesting movie to say the least. There was a lot going on with it both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. It came out in 1980, which I am officially and arbitrarily deeming the tail end of the disaster movie golden age. Sure we were going to get more over time, but a lot of the staple actors and actresses of the genre started leaving the acting business around this time, and starting with Day of Resurrection, they started focusing a little more globally. I’m not saying that that was a bad thing, but the shift to the grander scale did lend itself to more unbelievable plots, and more over-the-top action sequences.
Day of Resurrection is a quintessential disaster movie in my opinion. It uses a lot of the elements that we’ve discussed previously and it manages to handle its plot and story pretty darn well. Before we jump in, I’d like to point out that this movie has graduated into the echelons of public domain, so if you’d like to watch it, you can do so absolutely free right here. There are two versions available, a ‘director’s cut’, which is just the original cut of the film, and a US TV broadcast version. I have linked the original cut of the film, but a simple Google search will yield links to either version.
Okay, so what is this movie all about? Well, to start off, it might be a little off putting to some viewers as it was made by a Japanese film studio with a Japanese director, Kinji Fukasaku. If you’re not used to the Japanese method of storytelling in film, you’re going to be pretty lost and really bored. However, if you enjoy the Japanese cinema, then this might just scratch your itch. The film is meant to take place primarily in the year 1982. The premise is that both the US and the USSR have developed automatic retaliatory nuclear defense systems, which all but renders the arms race moot. Being as neither side wants to be at a tactical disadvantage, the US develops a virus that is capable of mutating, spreading, and infecting at astronomical rates.
This virus strain is smuggled out of the US in order for the Soviets to obtain it, but during the drop, US special forces steal the vial back. However, their plane crashes, the vial is broken open and that’s what gets the whole ball rolling on this movie. Once the virus is introduced to the environment at large, it just starts doing what it was designed to do, which is kill everything. It’s not just a human killing machine. It’s designed to adapt to pretty much any mammalian species. There are a couple of different points of view used to tell the story along the way, and one of those is that of the POTUS. The prez is played by Glenn Ford. He’s one that once again, I don’t think any of my readers are quite old enough to remember off hand, but his performance is pretty spectacular. He has an advisor named Barkley, played by Robert Vaughn, who acts as a sort of counterbalance to General Garland, played by Henry Silva. Why is this important? Well, this group represents our ‘boots on the ground’ so to speak. They’re in Washington, DC when the virus becomes active and as such, they’re all infected and eventually die. But while they’re alive, they’re role is offering commentary and information necessary to the continuation of the plot, such as death tolls, extent of contamination, and moral talking points.
According to the story, the virus is dormant below a certain temperature. For this reason, the scientific posts in Antarctica are not affected by the plague. The characters situated there offer up an outside perspective of events as they try to ascertain what’s actually going on. I will say that in true disaster film fashion, this movie does tend to plod a little, and there are some redundant elements. For instance, we have the White House giving use physical updates on the spread of the virus, but then we also have a British submarine crew doing the same. The saving grace there is that the submarine crew also acts as a sort of lifeline to the outside world for the people in Antarctica as the sub can travel wherever it needs to go without risking exposure to the plague. Furthermore, a lot of time is given to getting up close and personal with the demise of the human race on a person-to-person level. This aspect is actually quite good because it increases the emotional impact of the film as it unfolds. As an example, one of our main characters in Antarctica is a seismologist by the name of Yoshizumi. He leaves a girlfriend behind and through her, we get a first person look at the carnage in Tokyo as she’s a nurse trying to help combat the virus. It’s little touches like this that bring the film to life a bit more. They can be tedious during a sit through, but once the experience is over, they all fit really well.
The virus eventually kills everything that’s not living in the Antarctic and that could have been the end of things, however, then Yoshizumi wouldn’t have been a necessary character, and considering the amount of time they spend developing that character during the film, that would just have been a waste. He’s out main character. Thus, to up the stakes and make that character relevant, the movie falls back on the automatic response arsenals that were built and activated by the warring giants. This aspect of the film is a little more difficult to buy because it’s our aforementioned General Garland that activates the American system. However, he doesn’t require a verification code, there isn’t a pair of keys that are necessary to arm it. He just goes to the White House basement, flips a few switches, turns a couple of knobs and there you go. I would like to have seen a little bit more realism there, but all things considered, I can give it a pass. In order to bring everything back to Yoshizumi, the big reveal is that offshore oil drilling around Baltimore has destabilized a fault line near DC and the resulting quake could set off the US nuclear arsenal, which in turn would set off the Soviet arsenal, which has a nuke aimed right for the outpost where everyone has take refuge. It really does sound convoluted on paper, but in the moment, it actually works pretty naturally.
As a result of all of this, Yoshizumi and one Major Carter, played by Bo Svenson, have to go to DC to disarm the system. They fail, because this is that type of movie and Carter dies in the process, leaving Yoshizumi to walk from Washington, DC down to the very tip of Chile where the Antarctic survivors have set up camp. I actually inferred this from conversation toward the end of the film and because I seriously doubt that anyone could swim from South America to Antarctica and survive. At this juncture, I feel the need to give props to whoever was left in charge of the numbers. I felt initially that the number of people remaining after armageddon just wasn’t viable. The movie actually states that the number of survivors amounts to 853, but upon doing a little research, I found that the human race could remain viable with as few as 160 people so well done. Anyway, that’s the plot in a nutshell, but I really didn’t do it very much justice. The film is two and a half hours long! There is a lot to take it and it’s put together really well.
There are a couple of surprise actors in this movie. George Kennedy, who was no stranger to disaster movies by this point is in the movie, as well as Edward James Olmos, and before you get your panties too bunched up, he also serenades the audience. I bring this up to demonstrate that we’ve got the ensemble cast covered. There is technically a youth involved, but not for very long. There’s a scene at the Japanese station where their radio operator picks up a five year old boy named Toby Anderson attempting to use his dad’s ham radio. The poor boy doesn’t realize that no one can answer until he releases the talk switch and so we get his verbal commentary interspersed with the Japanese radio guy telling the kid to release the switch. It could almost be comical if not for the fact that the whole scene culminates in the worst bait and switch ever committed to film. In a twist that may leave the faint of heart nauseated, we hear poor Toby grab his dad’s gun and shoot himself dead. It’s a really disturbing scene. There are a number of scenes involving the death of children specifically, but none hit quite as hard as that one. There’s also one scene that takes place in a disco where infected dancers are removing their clothing just before they die. There is some brief nudity shown here. So the moral of the story is that this movie probably would have gotten an R rating if such a thing existed at the time.
The movie does a fantastic job of grabbing the viewer emotionally, if you let it. It is easy to get caught up in some of the seemingly senseless shock moments, or more likely, the melodramatic acting. I’ll even admit that sometimes the acting seems a little too over-the-top to carry the story, but I promise that in context, it actually works okay. As far as glaring plot holes, which usually ruin films for me, I’m happy to say that there weren’t really any. Much care and time is devoted to making sure that all of the action unfolds logically and I really like that.
You maybe wondering how the term multinational describes the movie, other than the fact that several major locations worldwide are included. Well, there’s a multinational cast to begin with. For every semi-big American name on the bill, there’s at least one Japanese star. Also, during the filming, a submarine was donated for use by the Chilean military. The Canadians allowed interior submarine shots to be made on one of their subs, and finally, transportation of the cast and crew was initially provided by the Swedes,but when the ship ran into an underwater reef, the Chilean navy picked up the slack. Furthermore, filming locations included Tokyo, Halifax, Machu Picchu, Ottawa, and Alaska so the film was literally all over the map. With such a huge scale, it’s not wonder that the film cost $16 million. It was the most expensive Japanese production ever made at the time. The studio was trying for a worldwide market release, but unfortunately, the movie just didn’t perform well enough to warrant it.
Fortunately, the film has developed a sort of cult following over the years, and rightfully so. From a technical aspect, it’s pretty solid. The acting is good, by 80s Japanese film standards, the plot of the film is well conceived and well executed, and what few special effects are used are well done. There are a lot of really clever plot devices used to build the scope of the film up without breaking the bank. If you only watch the US version of the movie, it will seem to be a pretty depressing film. That’s mostly to do with the fact that nearly 30 minutes of footage was removed for the US version, and as such, a lot of the subplots that are used to keep hope alive in the original cut are removed. However, I will give kudos to whoever edited the US version for going all the way. If you’re looking for a film where man really does pay the ultimate price for his hubris, then that’s the way to go. However, if you like something a little more chipper, then watch the original cut. It ends on a much higher note and leaves the viewer with the hope that the human race will endure.
In case you missed me tying things up, this really is a movie that’s worth the watch. It’s not without its faults, as every film does, but it manages to connect with its audience on a human level that lends it a lot of emotional impact and makes for a very entertaining watch. It is a relic of days gone by perhaps, but at the same time, the themes are still relevant. We live in a world where forces with unknown agendas are developing weapons of mass destruction, and thus, the ‘bad guy’ is not well defined. For that reason a lot of the concerns brought up in this movie are still valid, especially when one considers lesser themes of clandestine government programs in the name of national security, and more generally, our tendency for hubris as human beings in overestimating our understanding of the universe around us at times. Yes the story is bleak up until the very end, but it is a pretty interesting thought exercise. I definitely recommend that should you find yourself with an extra three hours, give this one a watch. You won’t be disappointed, and being as it’s free and readily available, there aren’t too many reasons to pass it up.
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