With an upcoming second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to presumably hit this winter, documentary “Totally Under Control” was released on Hulu yesterday and gives a detailed look at what went on during the start of the pandemic through a scientific, political and economic lens.
Filmed in secret for over five months, the documentary guides the audience through blow-by-blow accounts, showing the lead-up to the first positive COVID-19 case in the U.S., how the administration missed opportunities to stop the spread of the virus and general, careless miscommunication of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Oscar-winning writer and director Alex Gibney and his co-directors, Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger, use news footage and interviews featuring a handful of accredited journalists, scientific experts and government whistleblowers who not only knew the unfoldings of handling the coronavirus pandemic but who were also a part of it.
“Totally Under Control” gives an unbiased layout of the warning signs even before patient zero at Wuhan, China with the United States’ haphazard plan for a viral outbreak and the administration’s choice to advise following practiced procedures for a viral outbreak. This followed who was involved in the early signs of the pandemic, why the Trump administration had appointed them, where they were when implementing plans and why they went about doing so.
Partially due to the fact that we have been living in the pandemic for nine months now in the United States, most Americans are growing increasingly unresponsive to news about the novelcoronavirus. However, the result of “Totally Under Control” is a crisp and frank filing of information without the dramatic music and over-editing many may find in an ordinary documentary, leaving the audience with a newfound understanding of what went on behind the scenes of the handling of the pandemic.
“the result of “Totally Under Control” is a crisp and frank filing of information without the dramatic music and over-editing many may find in an ordinary documentary, leaving the audience with a newfound understanding of what went on behind the scenes of the handling of the pandemic.”
In the final seconds of the film, it is revealed that President Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 the day after the filmmakers finished editing, almost as a warning to viewers that “Totally Under Control” is still an ongoing journal of one of the most chaotic years in modern American history.
Although one might find watching a documentary about a pandemic we’re already living through repetitive, “Totally Under Control” will definitely be used in classrooms around the country to give a detailed explanation of the historical implications of the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic not just in the United States itself but for the population worldwide.
Rating 4/5
