28 Days Later

28 Days Later

Activists liberate cage bound lab animals, only to discover they are infected with a “rage” virus that transforms them into raving bloodthirsty killers. The disease quickly spreads to humans and when Jim(Cillian Murphy) wakes up in an empty hospital, coming out of it he finds himself in the middle of deserted London. During stunning takes he walks through Piccadilly Circus and crosses Westminster Bridge without meeting anybody, while reading old newspapers blowing in the wind about a human perpetrated epidemic.

Extremely low budget (in part because it was shot on video by Danny Boyle, who previously did Trainspotting), less starry actors than one might expect from such movies (let alone action heroes), and consequently more development time given to creating their weird personalities; spend enough money on this story and it has a depth rivaling Armageddon. In Garland’s screenplay, characters appear real: they have lives even outside events described (and that explains much about why they act).

Such is the beginning of “28 Days Later”, which starts off as a fine sci-fi movie and evolves into an interesting analysis of human nature. The end is flat-a shoot-out with characters pursuing each other through a secret army unit though for most of the way it’s great fun. I suppose movies like this have to end with the good and evil characters locked in one final fight. However, at the end everyone would not be dead yet; although going by the logic of story line that would be what should have happened

Jim is just like any other person whose life probably gets saved thanks to his near-deadly motorbike crash. Still shouting around London hoping for anyone else, he meets Selena(Naomie Harris)and Mark(Noah Huntley) who are uninfected survivors explain what happened.(Mark: “OK, Jim, I’ve got some bad news.”) Selena tells him that the virus had spread to France and America even before the news clips went off the air; when a person is infected, she reveals, he or she will only last for twenty seconds before he turns into a rampaging flesh eating zombie.

This 20 second timeframe serves three critical functions in the story: (a) it has us going “12 11 10” in our heads at this one crucial moment; (b) it eliminates that plot device where someone can keep their infection hidden from others; (c) it demands that we quickly dispose of characters we like, making concrete the ruthless nature of disease.

From a Darwinian perspective, such a virus would be an inefficient survivor if its actions were within 20 seconds the host population dies soon afterwards and so does the virus. The movie’s answer to this objection I think is that the “rage virus” was not evolved naturally but genetically engineered in a Cambridge laboratory where this story started.

We are so captivated by the narrative of this film that we hardly care to think about evolution. Among the rest, Selena becomes the most domineering, meanest, and least emotional one who has developed a rigid survivalist’s outlook on life. Were it not for her intervention, compassionate Jim would have perished. They eventually find two other survivors: Hannah (Megan Burns), a teenage daughter and a big man named Frank (Brendan Gleeson). They are barricaded in an apartment complex on high rise floors; there is also a radio that they can tune into a nearby military base from which they get army broadcast signals over but should they take them at their word and follow it as instructed? Can we trust that message?

It reminded me of that lonely Northern Hemisphere radio signal picked up in post A bomb Australia in “On the Beach.” After some discussion, the group decides to take risks then using Frank’s taxi cab drive to Manchester. This involves an impossible scene where the taxi can climb over jammed cars in one tunnel and another scene where hundreds of rats run away from zombies.

The surviving zombies pose this question: how long does someone remain alive after contracting this virus? When London appears empty at first sight, those zombies must have survived recently. Another question is why don’t these groups attack each other if they run like packs? The film doesn’t give any answers to this one.

Actually, Act Three is developed against the backdrop of Armies’ roadblock at Manchester that is still maintained by uninfected soldiers this act hardly compares with the first two acts as promised in our introduction paragraph. Maj. Henry West (Christopher Eccleston), who is in charge here invites them all to his men for dinner that really looks creepy with friendly hosts thus making guests suspicious about everything especially food poisoning and cannibalism. And then see for yourself.

Selena played by Naomie Harris is a new actress in the industry who does well as the steady rock that holds the group together. She didn’t grow up to be tough; rather she adapted to her environment after birth. Other movies would have shown Selena and Jim making love, but this scene where she gives him a peck on the cheek while he blushes captures just the right mood.

Another touching moment occurs when she offers Valium to Hannah, an adolescent girl. They are stuck in this situation with no escape. “To kill myself?” asks Hannah. “No,” Selena replies, “so you won’t care as much.” The ending is pretty typical. I understand why Boyle chose not to kill everyone in the end, but I wish he had ended it like John Sayles’ “Limbo” did in mid sentence as it were.

But then I’m never happy enough. 28 Days Later is a hard film wise and resourceful in putting its characters into predicaments they can only resolve by understanding their own human nature (and ours too).

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