THE CURED (2017)

Studio:       IFC Films
Director:    David Freyne
Writer:       David Freyne
Producer:  Rachael O’Kane, Rory Dungan, Ellen Page
Stars:     Ellen Page, Sam Keeley, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Paula Malcomson, Stuart Graham, Oscar Nolan, Peter Campion, Hilda Fay, David Herlihy

Review Score:

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Summary:

Years after a deadly outbreak devastated the country, Ireland struggles to reintegrate cured zombies back into society.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Years after Europe’s Maze Virus devastated much of Ireland, causing violent psychosis in those infected, a cure was discovered. 75% of those infected were treated successfully, although they retain memories of everything they did while infected. While ‘The Cured’ are reintegrated into society, the government debates what to do with the other 25%.

As part of the third wave of reintegrated Cured, Conor Ryan and Senan are released from quarantine together. Conor reminds Senan not to tell his American journalist sister-in-law Abigail Reynolds that Senan killed Abbie’s husband Luke, Senan’s brother, after being infected by Conor, even though Senan repeatedly suffers from nightmares and flashbacks to the event. Sgt. Cantor, Senan’s rehabilitation officer, reminds Senan of his obligations as a reintegrated Cured.

Senan moves back home to a house he shares with Abbie and her young son Cillian. Meanwhile, Conor’s father refuses to speak to him because Conor killed his mother.

Sam begins his new job at the treatment center as an assistant to Dr. Lyons. Dr. Lyons struggles to find a cure for the 25% known as ‘Resistants’ by working on her only patient, Jo, her lover and former partner who helped develop the original cure.

The public outcry against reintegrating the Cured spills over into harassment of Abbie. Meanwhile, the government decides to humanely euthanize the 5,000 infected constituting the 25%.

Senan goes to see Conor at an assembly of other Cured. Flanked by two IDV soldiers, Cantor interrupts their conversation. Cantor confronts Conor about failing to report for his new custodian job while warning that Conor’s family wants nothing to do with him. The soldiers subdue Conor when he has an outburst.

Conor introduces himself to Abbie on the street. The two of them talk about what it was like to be infected.

Senan finds two soldiers roughly handling one of the infected subjects at the treatment facility. When the infected woman gets loose, one of the soldiers callously shoots her dead.

Lyons goes on television to speak out about the government’s decision. Conor uses the growing discontent to convince Senan that the government will come for the Cured next.

Conor forms an underground resistance group called ‘The Cured Alliance.’ Promising that all of their targets are empty buildings, Conor compels Senan to participate in Molotov cocktail bombings. Senan learns the next day that a military cadet was killed in one of their bombings.

Covering the commotion as a freelancer, Abbie asks Senan if he is a member of the Cured Alliance. Senan denies involvement during their subsequent conversation about Luke’s death.

Conor interrupts dinner between Senan, Abbie, and Cillian. The three adults have an uncomfortable conversation about the state of conflict between the Cured and the uninfected. Senan privately tells Conor he will no longer participate in any Cured Alliance activities due to the cadet’s death.

While Senan takes Cillian to school, Cantor comes to see Abbie. Cantor warns that the infected are not mindless monsters. Rather, they operate with a sentient hive mind and share an unknown connection to one another. Cantor advises Abbie to contact him if she feels there is anything he should know. He then passes her a confidential file revealing that Senan and Conor were linked as infected, even though Senan claimed to have met Conor in quarantine.

Abbie infiltrates a Cured Alliance meeting. Abbie secretly films the meeting before Conor confronts her. Realizing he was responsible for the bombings, Abbie warns Conor to stay away from her and Senan. Abbie is forced to flee when several Cured attempt to apprehend her.

In the treatment center, Jo tries attacking Dr. Lyons. Soldiers are forced to pull Jo away for a planned euthanization.

Someone breaks into Senan’s house and beats him with a bat. Presuming anti-Cured protesters were responsible, Senan appeals to Conor for help protecting Abbie and Cillian.

Abbie realizes Conor’s faction was responsible for the break-in when she discovers her footage of the Cured Alliance meeting was stolen. Abbie calls Cantor with a warning that Conor is planning something.

Senan finds Dr. Lyons, who claims to have a cure for the Resistants, present at Conor’s next Cured Alliance meeting. The group concocts a plan to kidnap Jo from military custody as a way for their initiative to be taken seriously. Soldiers raid the meeting. Senan is taken into custody while most of the others escape. Senan is eventually released after Cantor questions him about Conor’s plans.

Conor goes to see Abbie while she watches Cillian play in the park. Conor cryptically threatens Abbie and tells her to ask Senan about her husband’s true fate.

When Senan returns home, Abbie asks him what really happened to Luke. Senan admits that he killed Luke after Conor infected him. Frustrated by the revelation that he withheld the truth from her, Abbie angrily kicks Senan out of the house.

Conor confronts Senan on the street. Cantor tries arresting them for the cadet’s murder, but Conor beats the sergeant to death. Conor realizes Senan set him up. As Conor flees the scene, Senan realizes he doesn’t know Conor’s real plan.

Accompanied by Dr. Lyons, the Cured Alliance infiltrates the treatment center by killing several soldiers. After Lyons releases the lock on Jo’s cell, Conor’s aide Declan pulls a gun on Lyons. Declan then unlocks all of the doors, releasing all of the infected Resistants. Senan arrives as an explosion pushes the infected outside to overrun the streets.

Dr. Lyons reunites with Jo, who is now cured. However, another infected attacks and kills Lyons.

With the infected running amok, the military takes Abbie into custody for her protection. Senan returns home in time to see Abbie being escorted away. Abbie screams for Senan to retrieve Cillian from school, which he does.

Conor comes after Senan, forcing him to release Cillian. Conor beats Senan with a pipe while infected chase the boy. A soldier shoots Conor off of Senan. Senan leaves Conor to bleed while he rescues Cillian. When Senan returns, he finds Conor gone.

Abbie escapes the military encampment, kills two infected, and returns home to Senan and Cillian. Senan fends off an attacking infected, but not before it bites Cillian. Abbie tearfully prepares to shoot her son. Senan explains that Dr. Lyons created a new cure that can save the boy. Senan promises that everything will be ok as he takes Cillian away.

Once the new outbreak is under control, the government prepares to declare Ireland infection-free. Conor runs for public office while promoting a conspiracy theory that the government covered up Dr. Lyons’ new cure for Resistants. Public sympathy swells for the Cured Alliance.

Abbie watches a news broadcast reporting on a newly discovered pocket of infected. Abbie cries. Senan is shown carrying Cillian, who is still infected, across a field.

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Review:

You know that scene in almost every zombie movie, where a survivor refuses to shoot an undead loved one?  Desperately clinging to hope that the contagion could be reversible, he or she irrationally insists that the monster is still human inside.

“The Cured” imagines what a post-outbreak setting might look like if such a solution really did exist.  It turns out to be almost as bleak of a picture as a world overrun by infected, albeit in a way that is heartbreaking rather than horrific.

Several years after Europe’s Maze Virus devastated Ireland, a cure was created.  So were two knock-on problems.  Although ‘The Cured’ are no longer afflicted, they retain vivid memories of every violent act committed while consumed by uncontrollable psychosis.  It’s a coin flip if they truly have it better than ‘The Resistants.’  They are the 5,000 people who didn’t take to the cure, and are still held in quarantine while the government debates what to do.

Ireland isn’t taking reintegration of the Cured altruistically.  Driven by fears of a relapse and frustration over forgiveness for mindless murders, public outcry demands that the Cured be regarded as harshly as anyone still infected.

That’s the simmering situation facing Senan, who has been released to return home to his sister-in-law Abbie and her young son Cillian, who have no idea what Senan really did to his brother Luke while infected.  Elsewhere, Senan’s friend Conor returns to a father who refuses to see him.  The former barrister is also forced to take a job as a common custodian, further fueling an entitlement fire that has Conor seeing society as an enemy intent on oppressing the Cured.

With the military’s boot on his neck too, Conor rallies allies into an underground resistance group.  Senan’s job with a doctor determined to cure the Resistants offers him an outlook of optimism.  With the uninfected demanding action and the government threatening extermination, boiling tempers pit conflicting perspectives in fierce opposition as each faction readies for retaliation.

What’s the worse poison: the virus infecting a body’s bloodstream or xenophobic fears manipulating mindsets?  Like every good zombie story, “The Cured” understands that substance comes from commentary, not from carnage.  An allegory for everything from PTSD and an angry citizenry awaiting returning war veterans to politically charged racial conflicts, “The Cured” tells a tale of paranoia and prejudice influencing ideas while dividing people according to imagined ideals.

Although the climax speeds headfirst into “28 Days Later” ferocity, which is the only point where the movie delves deeply into derivative territory, “The Cured” predominantly remains a quiet drama tinged with tension from teased suspense.  Clashes are clearly coming across multiple fronts.  But “The Cured” invests its currency in intimacy.  Writer/director David Freyne’s interests lay in illustrating how structure staves off collapse in the wake of unfathomable catastrophe.  Meanwhile, individuals work on reconciling with each other, either through compassionate understanding or inflamed animosity.

This thematic exploration is thoughtful, emotional, and intriguing.  It’s also not in a hurry, which is why anyone lured by an inference of typical undead action won’t see expectations satisfied.  “The Cured” isn’t that kind of movie.  In fact, it’s only disappointing when it tries to be.

Pop scares are included, though you can almost smell how much they don’t want to be.  Jolts come off as marking a contractually obligated checkbox for scary movie criteria.  Freyne then moves on quickly, getting back to the interpersonal interactions that actually power the movie’s gears.

Not to make it into an international competition, but British TV series “In the Flesh” and Canadian thriller “The Returned” (review here) made a deeper impact using setups similar to Irish-born “The Cured.”  “In the Flesh” had the benefit of multiple episodes to develop its arcs.  “The Returned” arguably asked more about morality through the wider scope of its reintegration scenario.

“The Cured” purposefully contains itself to more manageable fiction.  Shambling corpses aren’t running amok across a global wasteland.  By the movie’s math, Ireland bore the brunt of the outbreak with only 20,000 total infected.  This makes the premise realistically relatable, though it does quell the fear factor by lessening immediate danger somewhat.

Again, that’s because “The Cured” aims to dissect governmental and personal politics, not showcase frightened residents hiding in basements.  Even narrowed to that focus, “The Cured” still encounters curious difficulty in giving its four main characters all of the highlights they earn.

Sam Keeley certainly evokes all of the unspoken turmoil necessary for making Senan a tragically sympathetic person.  Ellen Page gets by mostly on her natural performance power.  A few scenes call on Page to channel tears, shouts, and shock, though with almost any other actress, the underwritten part would crumple from having too little to do.  The script tasks Paula Malcomson with even less.  Her highly important yet infrequently appearing character seems snipped from a more robust role intended for a more intricate movie.

Tom Vaughan-Lawlor impresses as Conor, although he doesn’t make for an overly enigmatic yin to Keeley and Page’s yang.  Conor is definitely villainous in the vaguely disconcerting way required.  He is also pitiable and always compelling as a character.  Yet there is an x-factor needed to take his complexities to an unmistakably memorable level.

“The Cured” compensates shortcomings with its overall maturity.  Focusing on the ramifications of reconstruction provides fascinatingly fresh perspective on zombie fiction.  “The Cured” may not be the perfect panacea for rejuvenating the subgenre as a whole.  But it makes for a highly compelling start.

Review Score:  65

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