Back from last episode’s jaunt to rainy climate-changed Korea, Sean and Cody delve into the understandably touchy subject of global pandemics. In Terry Gilliam’s bizarre 1995 time travel thriller 12 Monkeys, chrome-domed con James Cole (Bruce Willis) is sent by his bosses back in time to 1996 to figure out whether a kooky animal rights coalition called the Army of the 12 Monkeys actually juiced the world with the deadly virus that devastated the planet. Cole’s former shrink Dr. Railly (Madeline Stowe) and his ex-roommate in the mental institution (Brad Pitt) seem to have something to do with it, but who knows in this film? The major environmental issue discussed is global pandemics and their effect on history from the early Middle Ages up to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, and how they compare to the coronavirus.

What’s the definition of a pandemic and how does one spread? What is the link between major pandemics and climate change? Why is Ebola unlikely to become a human extinction event despite being one of the most lethal viruses in the world? What do the Emperor Justinian, Woodrow Wilson and Donald Trump have in common? How do you name-drop a 6th century Greek historian into an episode about a 1990s science fiction film? What does “hungersnot” mean? Why is it usually a bad idea to adapt a New Yorker article into a full-length book? How come Christopher Plummer never got to play a Bond villain? Why is the time travel plot the least interesting thing about this film? All these questions are in line for vaccination appointments in this achy, feverish, socially-distanced episode of Green Screen.

12 Monkeys (1995) at IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/ 12 Monkeys (1995) at Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/film/twelve-monkeys/

Next Movie Up: The Dig (2021)

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