Convergence: Courage in a Crisis

When the whole world was cowering due to the fear of the pandemic and all that was visible was hopelessness, the makers of Netflix's Convergence still found a thread of hope which would show that everyone did find a reason to keep moving on! Kudos to the team which showed us the stark anguish around the world, but still found those real life reasons where hope was kept alive.

According to me, the most mind blowing a thought process was that in the midst of all the pain, illness and death, we had a child birth happening! If that is not the ultimate manifestation of hope, pray, what is???!!

My salute to the makers of Convergence who have actually shown the human spirit at it's most resilient!

CONVERGENCE is an incredibly ambitious and poignant film that presents a deeply moving mosaic of the global impact of (and response to) COVID-19. The access is incredible: where else can you see the pandemic play out so intimately in a dozen countries all over the world, including Iran, Peru, India, the favelas of Brazil, and Wuhan itself? The achievement of weaving all these stories together is amazing purely on a storytelling basis, as is the power of the various narratives of individual characters, especially the Syrian emigre in London, the ambulance driver in Rio, and the ICU doctor in Peru. The American doctor in Miami could be a feature all by himself. In the end, the film becomes about something much bigger than the pandemic (as if that's not big enough), but rather, the entire spectrum of injustice, oppression, and inequality worldwide, and our interconnectedness in trying to fight it. A staggeringly impressive and inspiring achievement.

Orlando von Einsiedel after releasing this documentary in 2021: "I guess you guys aren't ready for that, yet. But your kids are gonna love it."

Say that not jokingly, because I feel like it's almost too soon to appreciate this as a time capsule, as things are only marginally less scary in 2021 than they are in 2020 (at least in my opinion. Some might feel it's worse).

Future generations, however, will probably find this fascinating as a time capsule that shows how people survived and endured during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even now, it feels like something of a time capsule, but for that, it's interesting.

Some of the best stuff I've ever seen. It really takes you on an incredible journey all around the world and is made with a great deal of empathy for all the people struggling through the Pandemic.

A powerful and beautiful account of the world in 2020. Some amazing people putting their lives on the line to help others, no matter where in the world you are there will be a story here that hits home. It's a story of humanity coping in crisis, not just a covid story. Well worth a watch but get your tissues ready.