A terrific movie, "Fatal Contact" tells a fictitious but vivid story of an avian flu pandemic threatening millions of lives.

    The film begins with an American businessman who returns from a trip abroad and brings with him a new strain of avian flu virus, which is communicable via human-to-human contact. Via everything from handshake to cough, the germ is relayed to others with frightening speed. As a result, millions get sick soon. As the illness spreads, so do rioting, looting, panic and hysteria. And the movie ends without a peep of hope in sight: When a vaccine is finally developed, the virus mutates again, and this time it kills everyone who gets it.

    "Fatal Contact" is strictly fictional but is based on some facts and is "meticulously researched," viewers say. According to published reports, a White House study on pandemic flu envisions a nation overtaken by "social and economic chaos" if the bird-flu virus should mutate into an influenza that can be passed from human to human and country to country. The Washington Post says the report not only "assumes" as many as 2 million dead in the United States alone, but also a 40 percent rate of "workforce absenteeism."

    As the actual H5N1 virus is working its way through 48 countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the film is an exceptionally well-made cautionary tale, which poses a sober "what if" question to the public. Enditem

    (Agencies)