The First Wave

A hospital in New York is the setting for Matthew Heineman's moving record of the early days of Covid-19.

This is the second documentary that I have seen this year about the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Both are fine films and have a great deal in common, yet they also diverge in ways that make it fascinating to compare the two. Each one observes the impact of the new virus on hospitals that were overwhelmed by the demands made on them and each covers a substantial period of time (The First Wave was shot over four months starting in March 2020 while the earlier piece dealt with the events of 76 Days as its title proclaimed). Both make hospital scenes their central focus, pay tribute to the heroic endeavours of the doctors and nurses and feature also some of the patients.

When it comes to the differences between the two films, the first is one of location. The First Wave is set in New York City whereas 76 Days was made in Wuhan, China. In so far as both works celebrate those working in hospitals, the footage is directly comparable (the fact that Wuhan was the setting for the earlier piece did not mean that it took on any issues about how Covid-19 started). The one distinction regarding what the respective filmmakers had to face lay in the fact that the filming in New York was fully authorised whereas that in Wuhan although initially receiving approval then had it withdrawn so that shooting had to be continued in secret.

The First Wave was directed by Matthew Heineman who was also involved in the photography and editing and his approach gives the piece a different emphasis even though both films stress the pressure on hospital staff working under extreme pressure. Here we have a doctor, Nathalie Douge, an Haitian American, and Kellie Wunsch, a nurse, are the two principal figures seen on duty, while among the many patients the film picks out Ahmed Ellis, a school safety officer, and Brussels Jabon, herself a nurse but one who has succumbed to Covid-19. Initially the fact that this is no longer fresh ground only underlines the tragedy and the misery, but Heineman usefully opts to concentrate above all on the experiences of Ellis and Jabon. Consequently, we become intensely concerned about them and their struggle to survive. Indeed, it is their efforts that make the film uplifting aided by the fact that there is also plenty of footage showing their respective families. The more details we learn about them and their families the more personal the film becomes and the more our involvement grows.

As the months pass the then governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, makes pronouncements and the film also takes on board outside events that capture the historical moment (most notably the murder of George Floyd). But, for all our admiration for the hard-pressed staff, it is the stories of the two patients that register most strongly here. However, that impact does not depend on Covid-19 being the cause of their illness and for that reason it is 76 Days which, by focussing first and foremost on the crisis level experienced in the hospitals, counts as the more telling piece when judged as an historical record of the pandemic’s first wave. Even so, this new film is admirably done and increasingly moving as it progresses.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Featuring  Nathalie Douge, Kellie Wunsch, Ahmed Ellis, Brussels Jabon, Karl Arabian, Alexis Ellis. 

Dir Matthew Heineman, Pro Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville, Ph Ross McDonell, Thorsten Thielow, Brian Dawson, Matthew Heineman and Alex Pritz, Ed Francisco Bello, Matthew Heineman, Gabriel Rhodes and David Zieff, Music H. Scott Salinas and Jon Batiste. 

Participant/National Geographic Documentary Films/Our Time Projects-Dogwoof Pictures.
93 mins. USA. 2021. USA Rel: 19 November 2021. UK Rel: 26 November 2021. Cert. 15 .