Movies of the Mind - 12 Monkeys - The Paranoia of Pandemics and the Years we Long to Forget 10/02/26

Movies of the Mind - 12 Monkeys - The Paranoia of Pandemics and the Years we Long to Forget 10/02/26

Feb, 10 2026


Just over three decades ago an American science fiction thriller film directed by Terry Gilliam from a screenplay by David Peoples and Janet People, based on Chris Marker’s 1962 short film La Jetee. It was the December 29th 1995 release ’12 Monkeys’.

The film was synonymous for its reference to a deadly virus, mental health institutions and how reality is eclipsed with fantasy. It also mirrors closely to the modern era with the pandemic 6 years ago.

Let’s remind ourselves of the film in the following trailer –

There’s no denying the serious impact COVID-19 had on people’s mental health. We were all living on a knife’s edge, walking around with masks on, standing two feet away from each other at a supermarket and only leaving the house for a small amount of time every day ….It’s enough to send anyone crazy. Here are the facts –

  • Around a third of adults and young people said their mental health has got much worse since March 2020.
  • 58% of people receiving benefits said their mental health was poor.
  • 88% of young people said loneliness made their mental health worse during the pandemic.
  • 1 in 5 adults did not seek support during the pandemic because they didn’t think their problem was serious enough.

If you’ve experienced the above or currently having a mental health crisis then the following video will be appropriate for you –

Yes mentioned in the short film was the crisis line. The Lancashire and South Cumbria service is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. For more information simply visit the following website link –

https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/services/service-finder-z/crisis-line

12 Monkeys was set in a post-apocalyptic future devastated by a disease, with the lead role sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet. You can imagine 30 years ago those attending the premiere wouldn’t even imagine a conceptual film becoming close to reality by 2020. It’s the thing of science fiction, we don’t consider a pandemic killing innocent lives but it did and it not only broke families apart it affected the mental health of, in particular young people who grew up during the pandemic. The lost years they will never retrieve from being isolated away from their friends and the adolescence they long to forget.

A final quote from Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle said the following –

“The film's startling depiction of the world in 2035—where human life has been driven underground by a 1990s viral outbreak that annihilated 99% of human life—may not always make sense. But 12 Monkeys rattles with insightful sound and fury, and its bleak visions are hard to shake.”

Insightful sound and fury – creates a dystopian prophecy of the 21st century. But it was close to accuracy the only thing that faltered was the time travel concept which has never become a reality otherwise this futuristic world we somehow inhabited and we co-existed in it in terrifying way.

^Alex Ashworth CCG Content Creator