Influenza, 1918

Locations
Call Number: DVD 614.518 In
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD 614.518 In	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Originally broadcast in 1998.
Narrated by Linda Hunt.
In the spring of 1918, an army private reported to a hospital in Kansas. He was diagnosed with the flu, an illness that doctors knew little about. By the end of WWI, America was ravaged by a flu epidemic that killed 675,000 people.
DVD, region 1, full screen presentation; stereo.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Watching This in 2020 Was Really Something submitted by Meginator on August 20, 2020, 12:54am This documentary is a little old-fashioned, insofar as it consists primarily of straightforward narration and interviews over archival photographs and video, but it finds a nice balance of dry exposition and vivid storytelling overall. Most notable are contributions from survivors of the 1918 Influenza pandemic, whose personal recollections give an otherwise dry film an vivid emotional core. Some of the parallels to the current situation are downright uncanny, despite the wide gulf of years (and the vast amount of scientific progress) that separate the two pandemics, making this unfortunately relevant viewing in 2020. This isn’t the most incisive or creative documentary, but it does effectively lay the basic groundwork for understanding the pandemic’s lasting effects in the United States (the film pays little, if any, attention to the international situation). This makes it poignant and important for contemporary viewers, even if it is the slightest bit outdated in its style.