Monday at the Movies - Outbreak

I very seldom go to the movies.  Most of the movies I see are on video or DVD a year or so after they've been released in the theatres...I really can't tell you why...except I just like spreading out on my own couch or in the recliner while I'm watching a movie.  There are plenty of movies that are worth seeing once...but there are some that are worth buying the DVD and watching over and over again.  My mom and I caught one of those on television last night.

First of all, how can you resist a movie with a cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, Donald Sutherland and Cuba Gooding Jr?  

And even if you can resist a cast like that, how can you resist a movie that brings to light the very real possibility of a deadly virus kept secret by government officials for use as a biological weapon?  Even though the movie was released in 1996, the plot is still very realistic...bad government officials making decisions they think are for the good of the nation vs. good government officials who still are grounded in the fact that the policies affect real people.  

I remember watching this movie for the first time and actually feeling scared when it was over...I could see the justification for secretly holding onto the virus and its antidote for years for the sake of national security, and I could understand McKlintock's justification for being disappointed in having to give up his weapon when the virus is accidentally transported overseas and into the U.S.  The scary part, however, is how a few trusted higher ranking officials could withhold vital information from the president of the U.S. and justify sacrificing a small group of U.S. citizens supposedly for the good of the rest of the nation.  

The scariest thing about that notion is that I can almost get it...it's not such a clear cut issue...thankfully Dustin Hoffman comes in with a zeal for exhausting every other possible avenue before killing American citizens.

Don't miss this one; it's one to own.