If you saw the nominees of this year’s Academy Awards – or if you watched the Oscars — you might have read about “Don’t Look Up”, a 2021 Netflix movie directed by Adam McKay, starring big celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, Timothée Chalamet, and others.
The movie tells the story of two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) who locate a comet that is going to hit and destroy Earth. They search for ways to warn the population about this discovery by bringing it to the press and to the US president (Meryl Streep), who does not see the real gravity of the situation – once it hits the planet, it will destroy it.
As the movie continues, it is found out that this comet carries a lot of rare minerals, making the president more interested in acquiring these elements than stopping the disaster. Once it is close enough to be seen in the sky, the population gets divided into two movements: the “Look Up” movement, with those who believe the comet is a real threat, and the “Don’t Look Up” movement, which started by the president and her followers who only see possible economic benefits.
The film has been nominated for four Oscars, including original screenplay, which is no surprise since the movie does not only entertain, which is the main purpose of a comedy, but it also makes a critic by relating the plot with the pandemic and the government.
The Covid-19 pandemic caught everyone by surprise and many adaptations were necessary, causing a period of fear since the virus wasn’t well known yet and could make people die — just like the comet.
During this time, many governments did nothing to stop the virus from spreading and were even against the basic prevention methods like wearing masks and starting lockdowns. In other words, many politicians, for instance, US President Donald Trump and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, were denying the existence of this threat, especially because a lockdown would influence the economy in a bad way.
Additionally, there were countries, like the US and the UK, able to buy enough vaccines for their whole population, which allows the virus to be contained. However, other nations, in Africa and Latin America, did not have enough resources to do the same, and those who already had vaccinated their habitants could help but didn’t since they would be wasting their own money. By acting this way the virus gained more and more time to spread and mutate into different variants.
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The article above was written by Maria Frigo and edited by Laura Enchioglo.
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