Rowena J Ronson analyses the movie WWZ (2013) with a focus on the health of humanity…. (I originally published this blog in January 2014, but here it is again as it relevant for our times, I feel. 

Spoiler alert!

So our next world war will be an inside job, according to Hollywood 2013. It will not be caused by economics, politics or religion. It won’t be sparked off by a dictator, and it will not involve racial discrimination. No one will be immune, except, ironically, the sick and vulnerable. Nature will deliver her ultimate comeuppance for our continued disrespect for our internal and external environments, and the multitude of signs we choose to ignore daily. We will lose the war to viruses, and the narcissistic delusion that humans rule the

planet will at last be over. Nature will regain her equilibrium and secure continued ‘life’ on earth.

World War Z really got me thinking. The ingenious idea that a virus can mutate so intelligently that it can literally take over a person’s will, when pondered upon, is perhaps not so ingenious at all. Viruses are way more clever than we humans give them credit for; this human ignorance prevents us from living in constant fear (not a productive way to live), but I suspect that even if we fully saw the threat, we would still choose to believe we are invincible anyway. We continue to ignore our future environmental peril, opting for a far from adequate band-aid approach to sustainability, and we have always plastered over and suppressed our health issues, so why buy into the idea of viruses threatening to dominate the world and ultimately destroy humanity?

In WWZ, the Israelis are applauded – unusually so – for their wall-building prowess. They understand about preventative tactics and protecting themselves by raising their immunity and building resistance. Unfortunately they ignore the laws of susceptibility. Even, we assume, knowing the carriers of the virus were attracted by noise, they can not keep themselves silent within the Walls of Jericho, and put themselves at risk when praying and singing takes priority over safety. The predator cunningly wises up, as they always do, and develops communication “as if one”. With the cohesive synergy of a team, the virus can climb higher than the wall, and the Israelis are consequently vulnerable again, with no second chance for survival.

Observing the virus through the fisheye lens of a UN employee/“detective” achieves useful insights not gleaned by the scientists’ zoom

The virus seems to be disinterested in those whose systems are already compromised by a pre-existing diseased state. In this case, looking at the bigger picture and with an open mind, gives a clearer perspective, compared with focusing on the cellular minutiae.

So what is there to learn about disease in the 21st century from this mass media message? As a modern-day health practitioner, I work as if I were a detective, looking at a person’s wellbeing intensely and holistically. This means that all symptoms are investigated on all levels – mentally, emotionally and physically – and the dis-ease state (the totality of a person’s symptoms, individually expressing themselves to illustrate where they are out of balance) is examined and treated “as if one”. Much as the way in which the disease state created by the virus and expressing itself through its human host in WWZ acted “as if one”. Cure, healing or rebalancing from a dis-eased state in a person – allowing them to be no longer susceptible – is then achieved with one medicine which acts on the person’s own healing mechanism (their will, if you like, which was demonstrated as being “taken over” in the film) to re-establish their healthy equilibrium.

All living organisms since the birth of our planet have worked in balance and in opposition with each other. Plants and animals are always in relationship, often competitively, always opportunistically, but ultimately successfully in terms of the bigger picture of evolution. So what about the relationship between viruses and human beings? We know that many chronic diseases are said to be caused by viruses – multiple sclerosis, cervical cancer and AIDS to name a few. And we all experience the viruses that cause respiratory and digestive acute disorders in our health regularly – if we are susceptible. And we also know that viruses are mutating and evolving, along with all other life on earth. So is WWZ a real possibility for the future of the human race? And is our current suppressive, mechanistic way of treating our health with multiple drugs prescribed, one for each symptom, without consideration of the bigger picture and the long-term impact on our health, ultimately creating our inevitable downfall?