THE BAY
US, 2013, 88 minutes, Colour.
Will Rogers, Kristin Connolly.
Directed by Barry Levinson.
The Bay is a brief film, with touches of horror, in the Blair Witch Project vein. In 1999, this film encouraged several sequels as well as many imitations, allegedly true stories, with the cast representing people going out with cameras to investigate something mysterious and then disappearing. One of the other consequences was the ‘Found Footage’ horror genre. These were films compiled from alleged found footage, like the Paranormal Activity films, video material with dates and times. There were others recounting invasions by zombies as well as other monsters overtaking cities.
This time the film is less emphasising horror but, rather, has an ecological message, in the vein of Jaws.
The day is 4th July. The place is a town on Chesapeake Bay. Everybody is celebrating – but then a woman, covered with boils, emerges from the bay and there are reports of thousands of dead fish on the surface of the water.
The film purports to be a documentary made by a reporter who experienced the day and tells us, face to camera, that authorities have covered up what happened behind the scenes. For some years she has been collecting material and this is what she has put together, reconstructing the day, showing the doctor at the hospital, the contact with experts on diseases, the role of the police, ordinary citizens and trying to cope. There is also explicit condemnation of the mayor, an exploiter, who has built a desalination plant which gives water to the vast chicken farms – and so provides a lot of excrement that goes into the Bay and is suggested as the possible ecological cause of the disaster and so many deaths.
It is a surprise to see that the film was directed by Barry Levinson, a citizen of Baltimore and Maryland, who had made a wide range of films, including the ecological horror film, Sphere. He won an academy award for directing Rain Man.
1. The film as entertainment? Touches of horror? Environmental message? Critique of authorities?
2. The plausibility of the plot, the thousands of dead fish and the effect on the environment? 4th July, the celebrations (echoes of Jaws), people in the water, the woman coming out, covered in boils, the blood, her wanting people to take her to the hospital, her bewilderment? People not responding? The beginnings of the spread of the virus, the deaths?
3. Chesapeake Bay, the town in Maryland, ordinary, holiday? Characters, enjoying themselves, shops? The couple in the boat sailing from North Carolina? Audiences identifying with the characters?
4. The tradition of the Blair Witch Project, the attempt at cinema verite, the hand-held camera work? The development of the style after Blair Witch? Its use in horror, cities being taken over, post-apocalyptic, zombie films…? This film in that tradition?
5. The ‘found footage’ genre? effectively used here? The opening with Donna, the talking to camera, the authentic touch, documentary touch? Her explaining the situation, and the visuals of the situation? Her explanation that she was a film student, collecting the material, getting it together to make a film, wanting it to be seen? The story behind what the public saw and the media reported?
6. The role of the mayor, genial, talking about developments, the water purification, the chicken market, the speeding up of production? The recurring scenes of his optimism? The condemnation that his office was sent the material and there was no reply? Seeing him in the car with the policeman, the infected policeman, shooting his driver and himself? The car accident and the death of the Mayor? No ambulance because of the traffic disruption?
7. The visuals of people being infected, going to hospital, the waiting room, the surgery, the cutting of the limbs? People dying, in the street? The number of the dead?
8. The doctor, trying to cope in the hospital, eventually sending his staff home, the telecommunications with the experts, giving information, sending footage, the experts, trying to deal with what was happening, the range of experts, their opinions, the virus, analyses? Dealing with the police chief and getting no satisfaction?
9. The diving experts, their analyses, finding the polyps within the fish? Sending their information? The diving, the deaths?
10. The couple on the boat, the baby, arriving, bewilderment, the dead bodies, trying to ring the family, the disbelief at the other end of the phone? The husband infected, dying? The wife hurrying away with the baby to save it? Her not giving any information to Donna for her film?
11. The police, in the car, going to the house, the infection? The later return? Police trying to deal with the situation?
12. The device of showing the time and the date, the documentary style of giving information and the passing of time, coping and not coping with the outbreak?
13. The range of characters, the performances, including Donna and her cameramen, together, documentary impression rather than drama or fiction?
14. The impact of this kind of film, ecological message, the excrement from the chicken farms going into the bay, affecting the fish, the dire repercussions for humans? Ecology and money and profit?
