76 DAYS Documentary

Following the film, film critic Gil Robertson leads a conversation with filmmaker Hao Wu.

On January 23, 2020, to combat the COVID-19 outbreak, China put Wuhan, a city of 11 million, on complete lockdown. For the next 76 days, with the city a ghost town, Wuhan’s hospital wards became ground zero in a life-and-death struggle against the virus. A tour-de-force of cinematic nonfiction storytelling, 76 DAYS reveals the dark horrors that took place inside these wards but also discovers, miraculously, such moments of lightness as a young couple nervously awaiting their newborn baby who has been in quarantine; a cantankerous patient trying repeatedly to sneak out without permission; and a doctor playfully drawing a flower on a nurse’s plastic protective gear. These are 76 days of terror — and acts of extraordinary courage — that will be remembered by the people of Wuhan for all-time. –Ken Jacobson