Days and Nights in Wuhan poster

 

A Chinese documentary on how medical staff raced to rescue patients and ordinary people watched for each other to survive the Wuhan's outbreak in early 2020 was released on Friday, a day before the first anniversary of Wuhan's COVID-19 lockdown. 

The documentary "Days and Nights in Wuhan," filmed by some 30 videographers at the front lines in Wuhan over a months-long period, features the lives of ordinary people, from medical staff to patients, volunteers and community workers, when the coronavirus was wreaking havoc on Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province. 

The producer of the film, Li Wei, said that the work commemorates the 76-day lockdown in Wuhan, and only by mutual support and assistance can we get out of these difficulties and gain the impetus to move forward.

As the country's first documentary recording Wuhan's coronavirus outbreak, it deeply touched many viewers. 

"As a local Wuhan resident, the documentary was so real. Some people died and some magically lived. Sobs could be heard in the theater from start to finish. What I wanted to do most after watching the movie was give my parents and other family members a big hug, please cherish our lives," a Wuhan netizen said on social media. 

A moviegoer from Hubei surnamed Chen told the Global Times on Friday that the movie reminded her of those days filled with struggles, strength, courage, pain and love. "C'est la vie. Chinese people know it's a hard-won fight, many people made huge sacrifices and had to say goodbye to their loved ones in such unexpected ways," she said. 

But the outbreak has not defeated the people, the city. When spring comes, medics took pictures of flowers and trees, made selfies with some patients they had been taking care of for months, and finally had a beer and BBQ with their friends at local restaurants, as the movie showed, which is the most vivid display of the collective strength of the Chinese public, Chen noted.

The movie grossed over 5 million yuan ($771,521) on the first day at the box office, according to piaofang.maoyan.com.

A lot of babies were born in the early stage of the epidemic in Wuhan. Their cries in the film seem to tell the world Wuhan has been reborn, a Beijing resident surnamed Cao said after watching the movie.