Just the Flu?

199823 min 53 secFilm: Documentary

Direction: Bruno Carrière

Production: Éric Michel

Script: Bruno CarrièreLaurent GagliardiCarole Vallières

Co-produced by the ONF, Les Films d'ici and France 2.

Scientists, aware that the influenza virus can mutate without warning, live in fear of an epidemic of killer flu. This fearless documentary takes us into laboratories around the world, interviewing researchers in England, Canada, France, the US and Australia, all engaged in a constant battle against a virus so small that one million can fit on the head of a pin. We learn that of the three types of flu, only one is fatal; we see how easily the air-borne virus is spread, especially in a world of crowded cities and jet travel; we also discover the surprising link between humans, pigs and ducks in spreading the disease. The numbers are startling: in 1918-1919 the Spanish Flu claimed 20 million; over one million died of the Asian flu in 1957 and another million, eleven years later of the Hong Kong strain. You may never again say "Just the Flu" after seeing this film.

Subject categories


  • Health and Medicine > DiseasesPublic Health and SanitationResearch
  • Sciences > Research

Credits


director
Bruno Carrière
camera
Bruno Carrière
producer
Éric Michel
script
Bruno Carrière
Laurent Gagliardi
Carole Vallières
sound
Stéphan Bauer
Thierry Blandin
editing
José Heppell
sound editing
André Chaput
Mélanie Gauthier
narrator
Thor Bishopric
music
Martin Soucy
online editing
Denis Pilon
re-recording
Serge Boivin
Jean Paul Vialard
participation
Jean-Marie Cohen
Guy Boivin
Nancy Cox
Walter Dowdle
Alan Hay
Douglas Flemming
Claude Hannoun
John Oxford
Kennedy Shortridge