World War Z

Gerry Lane is a former United Nations investigator. He is stuck in city traffic with his family when a pandemic turns people into fast, ferocious infected. Civilization begins to fall apart within hours.

Gerry's field experience makes him useful to the authorities, and he is pulled back into service. In exchange, his family is given shelter on a naval ship. He travels across the world to find out where the outbreak started and whether it can be stopped.

The film is built around a series of set pieces in different countries. Each one shows a different society's reaction to the crisis, and each one gives Gerry a new clue.

The film argues that survival depends on observation, adaptability and cooperation, not on brute force. Its central idea is that humanity's weakness can be turned into a strength by those willing to look for it. The dialogue reflects this when it describes nature as leaving "crumbs" for people to find.

It is also a story about the pull between family and duty. Gerry has to leave his family in order to protect them.

The film can be read as an allegory for a global pandemic and for how governments handle a crisis they do not believe in until it is too late. It can also be read as a story about border walls and isolation, which fail against a threat that goes around them. A third reading sees it as a family drama, in which the apocalypse is a backdrop to Gerry's choice between protecting his family and serving everyone else.