![]() ![]() ![]() This dark vision of the apocalypse, one where the systems that are supposed to be protective and restorative are actually violent and destructive, hits close to home, especially in this context of war. This brief glimpse into the mind of West not only offers insight into the way he thinks but also describes exactly what the military does, which, when it comes down to it, is a globally accepted example of people killing people. In a scene where the soldiers fantasize about a future world when it's back to "normal," their leader Major West suggests that the world hasn't strayed too far from normal because, as far back as he can remember, people have always been killing each other. ![]() But once they arrive, one is immediately infected and gunned down by the soldiers, and the other three are held captive at the mercy of the small military group who plan to rape and murder them. What's fascinating is that, even though 28 Days Later was written and shot before the attacks on 9/11 - with filming wrapping up just before on September 10th, 2001 - the film's depiction of the military is impossible to separate from the US invasion that quickly followed and was already underway before the film's US release in 2003.īy the end of 28 Days Later, the survivors are lured to a military outpost after hearing a radio message claiming that the soldiers have a cure to the Rage virus and that their compound is a safe haven for survivors. In the same way Trainspotting, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire each avoided direct conversation around their bigger topics - drug addiction, climate change and poverty, respectively - 28 Days Later similarly abandons any overarching messaging on its themes and instead tells the post-apocalyptic story of a small group of survivors after the Rage virus infection in the UK. But what makes both these films strange and powerful is that the main threat isn't the infected it's the military.ĭanny Boyle is a filmmaker who doesn't focus on large-scale societal issues but rather uses them as a backdrop to tell more personal stories. And in a storytelling move that could have worked against itself, this franchise is intentionally up front with its social commentary, with the very first scene of the franchise clearly identifying and labeling the thematic problem as it names the virus that turns regular people into violent zombies Rage. So it comes as no surprise that Danny Boyle's 20-year-old 28 Days Later and its 2007 sequel 28 Weeks Later have a complex and biting relationship with the era of their release: a time of overt militarism, growing jingoism and global distrust. Zombie films have been consistently powerful tools for social commentary, using their uncanny violence to exaggerate and question humanity's failures, from racism to consumerism, xenophobia to misogyny and almost every other ill that plagues their zeitgeist. This article talks about events that some may find upsetting, including the mention of 9/11 and war. ![]()
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