WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Sea Fever, now available on VOD.
During these trying times, it's astounding to see people taking coronavirus (COVID-19) warnings lightly, as well as disregarding advice from medical professionals on self-isolation and quarantining. One's political views shouldn't skew one's judgment, as this issue is too real and seems to be reshaping how society will interact in the near future.
Fortunately, if you know someone who's still being stubborn, just point them to Neasa Hardiman's Sea Fever, which will surely scare them into using common sense as it's the most harrowing PSA for this current era.
Some viewers have labeled the movie "COVID-19 at sea" because it deals with an infection spreading among an Irish fishing crew. While the origin and nature of the virus is different, the reaction to how it should be handled definitely feels like what we're experiencing in the real world today. Captain Gerard (Dougray Scott) and his wife, Freya (Connie Nielsen), have secretly ushered their boat out to the exclusion zone in Irish waters, with marine biology student Siobhán (Hermione Corfield) aboard. But they get stuck on a giant squid-like leviathan, whose tentacles have infected the vessel's water filtration system and seeped a blue goo into its walls.
Siobhán realizes the crew members are bleeding out and dying, which is something Gerard saw when he boarded a stranded trawler earlier. The student discovers the larvae in the water supply seems to be the main cause, but because it's a new virus and some of them were out in the ocean -- amid the creature's bioluminescence -- she can't predict exactly what's going to happen. In fact, there seem to be multiple origin points, so as she doesn't know the nature of the virus, Siobhán's advice is to self-isolate and quarantine, which is received as extreme by the rest of the crew.
The crew's reaction is reminiscent of when the coronavirus broke out and people ignored rules to stay indoors, thinking the disease would pass like a flu. When China's cases got more severe, European countries started to enforce stringent measures, but by then, places like Italy were in disarray. It took some time, but the virus spread further, with North America, Central and South America and now the Caribbean under lockdown, for the most part. And in Sea Fever, the arguments against Siobhán's recommendation to self-isolate feel a lot like what doubters, conspiracy theorists and ignorant people are countering with.
Siobhán simply wants to be proactive so that there's little chance they take the virus back to shore. She has calculated a rough 36-hour window for everyone to keep to themselves but the crew doesn't want to hear it. They want to get back to the mainland and take whoever's exhibiting symptoms to the hospital. But Siobhán has to educate them on what it means to be asymptomatic and that, even if they don't manifest symptoms, that doesn't mean they won't act as carriers and pass the illness on. She wants them to social distance from each other, but also from loved ones at home, because asymptomatic carriers have the potential to spread the disease to countless people.
Siobhán indicates separation isn't a cure -- it's about reducing the probability of bringing the virus to the masses and exposing innocents. It's, as she puts it, avoiding setting up dominoes to be knocked down, which is the frightening reality many people overlook when they ignore social distancing orders today. Siobhán reveals it doesn't matter who has family back home, if they love them and want them to be there tomorrow, they have to stay isolated on the ocean today. And even then, she's not sure what will happen after the window she's specified, as her advice is based on extrapolation and assumption -- similar to what's going on with the coronavirus pandemic as countries try to figure out when things can get back to normal.
When Siobhán hears the crew argue that she shouldn't weigh the lives of those infected and dying against people alive and well who might not even get infected on land, she knows her concerns are flying over their heads. In Siobhán's mind, the needs of the many outweigh those of the few. Plus, the hospitals might not know how to treat the illness or may not have time for a proper assessment before it spreads and turns into an epidemic. So Siobhán forces them to remain stationary by sabotaging the vessel rather than putting Ireland at risk.
Written and directed by Neasa Hardiman, Sea Fever, now available on VOD, stars Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott and Olwen Fouéré.