Killing more people throughout history than all wars combined, pandemics are unpredictable – and inevitable. What would happen if an infectious epidemic was unleashed in a contemporary urban setting? Are we ready for the next big one? Montreal, the site of the last epidemic of smallpox in the modern world, was shocked in 1885 with a plague that claimed over 3,000 lives. Over 125 years later, what have we learned from that tragedy? That’s the question asked by Discovery World HD’s new docu-fiction OUTBREAK: ANATOMY OF A PLAGUE premiering September 13 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT. Addressing modern-day fears of bio-warfare and recent experience with H1N1 and SARS, this one-hour special breaks with traditional documentary format by juxtaposing riveting re-enactments of the 1885 Montreal epidemic with a fictional contemporary scenario: Patient Zero, a flight attendant, lands in Montreal with what looks like chickenpox. A few weeks later, she’s back on the job – completely unaware of her role in an impending public health catastrophe.
Epidemics feed on chaos – and by the time it had run its terrible course, Montreal’s 1885 smallpox plague had claimed thousands of lives, mostly children from the city’s impoverished slums. Echoing the events of 1885, OUTBREAK: ANATOMY OF A PLAGUE presents strikingly conceived re-enactments of over-crowded emergency wards and police coercion. With authorities struggling to contain the infection in the face of social unrest, ethnic scapegoating and economic ruin, this special boldly illustrates what a plague would be like in today’s global village.
Cautionary history injects OUTBREAK: ANATOMY OF A PLAGUE with dramatic urgency, as Dr. Teresa Tam – who oversees Canada’s Federal Emergency Response Team – joins epidemiologist Michael Libman and other experts to speculate on the possible trajectory of a contemporary pandemic. Based on the book Plague: How Smallpox Devastated Montreal, by eminent historian Michael Bliss, OUTBREAK: ANATOMY OF A PLAGUE skilfully blends fiction with popular history to present a timely and engaging reflection on what can happen when pandemics strike.
OUTBREAK: ANATOMY OF A PLAGUE was produced by PMA Sciences Inc. in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada in association with Discovery World HD Canada and Radio-Canada Television with the participation of SODEC.
