As someone who worked in retirement home for the elderly with dementia (that was hit hard) at the time these events happened and indeed the rest of this pandemic that yes, is still happening, I really wanted to see this one. I wanted to see what it was like for them on that ship and compare it to my own experience. So maybe I have some bias but I will admit, the documentary wasn't as ominous and clean cut as the trailer, it was an "ok" documentary. But considering what little footage they had to work with, I suppose it was a serviceable enough job.
There is a lot of politics surrounding this virus so hopefully people will keep that out of their reviews, I know I will.
Unfortunately a lot of it is filmed on phones so that may bug some people as I see it bug people in reviews for other documentaries. But like I said considering what little footage they probably had to work with, I'd say it was well enough put together. It was odd for me to watch personally, I myself witnessed the senior community I worked at turn into a ghost town/prison, I remember having to continue working and wondering everyday if I was going to get it, whether I was safe or if I was going to give it to someone else. So the way they portray the ghost ship was chilling, to me at least, from my opinion it was shown accurately.
Classism definitely reared its heads in this documentary. I do though wish they focused less on the passengers and more on the crew, I feel they showed more of the passengers and I found it sad they didn't put more focus on the injustice and anxiety of the crew, which they did touch on, but certainly not enough. At least I got to go home at the end of 16 hour shift, these poor people had to work in cramped conditions with little to no protection or understanding of what was happening. Again, they did touch on it, but more emphasis could have been put on those poor people, who got to watch rich Americans leave while they worked their fingers to the bone to keep those passengers alive.
I understand the passengers were bored and frustrated, but I found some of them incredible pretentious, ungrateful, and downright rude, and I did not have the sympathy for them in the way I think the documentary wanted me to. Dementia patients I worked for in the senior home complained less than these people. Its almost as if these people thought the same level of pre-Covid service they were promised would continue in a situation like this, I only really felt emotional for one of the passengers and his wife. But the rest of the portions of the passenger segments left me uninterested and kind of insulted as someone who worked during these hard time in one of the most dangerous places.
All in all it was a slightly above middle of the road documentary, not amazing but told the story the best they could with what little they had.
