An Inspector Calls (2015)

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When I began watching this film, I thought that it would have the same outdoorsy vibe as the Murder on the Orient Express. Instead, I found a film that was mostly confined in an elegant 1910s dining room. The wealthy Birling family was celebrating the engagement of the daughter, Sheila, to Gerald, a man from another prominent family. Inspector Goole, investigating the suicide of a poor woman called Eva Smith, gatecrashed the dinner and pointed out how each member of this privileged family made Eva's life increasingly desperate, leading to her taking her own life.

The performances were superb but the movie made an impression on me because of what Inspector Goole said in the end about each of us being responsible for one another. I think that this message is relevant during this challenging time. 

As the seriousness of COVID-19 reached the residents and the county officials in the Bay Area, people have started hoarding basic supplies to the point that there are now empty shelves in Costco, Target, Seafood City, Ranch 99, among others. Nothing has been spared: tissue paper, rice, pasta, canned meats, disinfectant, hand sanitisers. This hoarding behaviour led to artificial supply shortages. 

Biboy's photo of the last of the polished Jasmine rice in stock in Seafood City four days ago.

In Tennessee, brothers bought all the hand sanitisers they could access (amounting to 17700 bottles); they were selling these at an exorbitant mark-up prices on Amazon and eBay, alerting the online shopping sites and the authorities. The brothers aren't the only ones trying to make a fast buck, I'm sure. Despite the threat of COVID-19 transmission overwhelming the public health system, a big crowd of Nashville partygoers still celebrated St Patrick's Day. Oklahoma two officials posted photos on their social media accounts of either them eating in a crowded restaurant or the food that they ate; they faced backlash from their followers because of their irresponsible behaviour in the face of the pandemic. And a California representative actually encouraged people to eat at their local pubs despite restaurants shutting down operations temporarily to prevent the disease's spread. 

These are just some examples of people who neither feel responsible about their neighbours nor sense the urgency of the pandemic. They only think about themselves and may be knowingly promoting harm on others by discouraging social distancing, and shorting the supply and distribution of items essential to the safety of their communities. Or it could just be plain ignorance and the attitude that they are too good to be affected by the virus. Nonetheless, as Inspector Goole said, "... the time will soon come when if men will not learn that lesson [we are responsible for each other], then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish."

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