The First Wave Opens the Hamptons International Film Festival

The opening night film is tough, warned a programmer at the HIFF, the beloved festival in person after the pandemic shutdown last year. It’s Matthew Heineman, I said, knowing that this documentary filmmaker embedded with Mexico’s cartels in his film, Cartel Land; of course it is tough. If you can insinuate yourself with murderous drug traffickers, might the hospital wards overwhelmed by Covid be a good subject. But here’s the unexpected: The First Wave covers a tough subject with enormous heart.

Ahmed, a police officer, overweight, and diabetic oozes pus on a hospital bed. A nurse, Kelly, knows he’s a family guy with young kids; she’s determined to help him make it through. He does not look so good, going in and out of ventilators. Not a good sign. We check in on him as he strains to have face time calls with his wife, Alexis, and their children. Other families come into view: one is a woman who just gave birth now fighting for her life. You know these stories and hundreds like them.

Mix in, the convergence with Black Lives Matter after the murder of George Floyd, not a casual coincidence. Blacks are among the worst hit, as New York becomes ground zero for Covid deaths. Andrew Cuomo is heroic, at least in the first four months shown in the film. And, here’s what makes you cheer: Karl, a hospital physical therapist who jokes Ahmed into his routines. Hospital workers clapping as survivors make their way out into the world and the arms of loved  ones. The woman reunited with her new born.

Onstage for a post-screening Q&A at Guild Hall, Ahmed gets a bear hug from Alec Baldwin who states he should be in every movie.

At SiSi, Heineman said the hardest part was knowing he and his crew were putting themselves at risk, possibly bringing Covid home to their families. Kelly is at work at the hospital, expecting her third daughter. And Ahmed tells me he’s back on his South Brooklyn beat.