Well, this is an authentic Yugoslav disaster and horror movie. It is authentic in two ways: it carries the authentic spirit of the life in old socialist Yugoslavia and it is not just based on actual events". The plot mirrors the actual events and corresponds to them. It's about a disease called by its Latin name, variola (vera), in the title and throughout the movie. I wonder whether this is the more accepted name in Serbian (although a Serbian name exists) or they did it to give the disease a special, menacing sound, or even to associate it with Ebola. However, I am writing in English and will call the disease by its standard English name: smallpox.
I watched Variola Vera because of my interest in medicine in general and all kinds of plagues in particular. My starting point was the popular belief about smallpox. People imagine smallpox as something similar to bad chickenpox, of which the most unpleasant effect are ugly scars. Well, this is, at best, part of the truth. I don't quite trust Richard Preston when he calls smallpox the worst human disease and describes the suffering of the stricken in the most drastic words possible. Smallpox is neither the most agonizing infectious disease nor the disease with the highest relative lethality rate. However, it IS very contagious and the "champion" in the absolute number of fatalities, outnumbering even the Black Death. And it is far from painless. The rash not only itches, as many believe – it does so in a certain stage, but before that, it causes pain. Many disease outbreak movies are practically monster movies with the virus as monster. Well, Variola Vera is nowhere near that! It operates at a higher level (no offense) and in a different spirit.
Everything starts with a Muslim pilgrim called Halil Rexhepi (he is Albanian, reads "Rejepi") accidentally bringing smallpox back to Yugoslavia. Rexhepi merges the traits of two real people: the clergyman who got infected during his pilgrimage and the schoolteacher who got it from him. The former had a light case, not even looking like smallpox, the latter the fatal hemorrhagic disease Rexhepi displays. The movie shows how different people behave in the face of the life-threatening epidemic, mainly inside the quarantined Belgrade General Hospital. I will also focus on some remarkable persons there. The most likable and heroic person in my view is Dr Markovic. She is not only unselfish and kind, she is somebody for who helping her next is a natural, intimate need. Dr Grujic is wrong in suggesting she should leave the hospital, because this work is the very her. What I find lovely is her attitude towards Kalimero. Kalimero, in turn, is the person I would like to talk to the most. To give him the right spirit for fighting the disease and some ideas how to have the doctors alleviate it (there are ways to diminish intoxication and to get fluids, even nutrition, in a body unable to swallow, and I didn't see the staff use all of them). Dr Grujic is likable and heroic, too. His flirting and seeking loose sexual relationships seems to make him morally questionable. (It is generally remarkable how loose sexual relationships and obscene swearing – it may be translated softer, but it IS obscene! - seem to be common in this hospital) But he works well as a physician and does not lose his spirits even when infected. Grujic is somewhat similar to the easygoing hedonist Bora who easily becomes pals with everybody. I'm sure the UN epidemiologist was inspired by D.A. Henderson, an important person in the smallpox eradication program. The real Henderson came to Yugoslavia at that time and is a tall, strong man with a "gravelly voice" – the UN epidemiologist has the ONLY really and distinctly gravelly voice I ever heard. The bookman is the typical product of a unique socialism-capitalism mix. One who got my attention is the morphinist nurse. With addiction, there is a question: is it a mere hedonistic vice or some deeper psychological issues needing therapy? It could be both, but I think the important message is that she is human, too, and nothing human is alien to her, despite questionable behavior. She is certainly better than the chief physician – but this is not unrealistic. Chief physicians are often not the best qualified, but the most audacious and often not the best of people. (But I wonder why WHAT he stole is never mentioned by American authors – or I don't know something) Certainly worthy of some attention is Danka's lover (I think he had his stroke due to stress and fear – being touched by such a patient is scary!) and Dr Ciric. And there is a rationale to her refusing to leave her ward: she knows there already is a lot of virus in the rest of the floor and doesn't want everybody to walk through it.
There are some factual goofs and uncertainties. "He wants to eat, but can he, after internal bleeding?" - Grujic clearly has ordinary smallpox, not hemorrhagic. Some patients bleed, not all. A 60% lethality is unusually high – however, one could attribute it to underlying HIV infections. But I don't think these things diminish the value of this movie a lot. It is a very good, honest movie about people before and during a catastrophe, with their good and bad traits, their true characters becoming apparent in the face of catastrophe, and the suffering associated with it. I'll emphasize something that is rarely mentioned but probably played a role in why the disease was not recognized promptly. To most people, books are books and reality is reality. Most medical staff members just can't naturally imagine to meet something from the old times pestilence" category in their daily practice.
I consider it safe to give this movie a solid 9.
