The film by Canadian Ma Yan was inspired by real-world events in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
WASHINGTON—A whistleblower silenced, a vial of biological material secretly sent to China, a pandemic spilled out.
In a country where the Chinese Communist Party holds onto power at any cost and covers up truth with chilling speed, ordinary families find themselves thrust into the center of an invisible war that knows no rules or bounds, one that the regime wages worldwide.
Such is the setting in the fast-paced political thriller “The Unrestricted War,” screened on July 31 at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.
Inspired by real-world events in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian filmmaker Ma Yan presents a story of freedom and survival, following a respected Canadian virologist, Dr. Jim Conrad, who is forced to make an unthinkable choice between stealing national secrets from his homeland or endangering his loved ones in a country where he has built his second home.
Casey Fleming, a national security expert and author of the upcoming book “The Red Tsunami,” said the film “gets you inside of what your enemy’s thinking.”
“To win this war without ever firing a shot, that’s what unrestricted warfare is,” he told The Epoch Times.
He said the film is “absolutely worth your time.”
“It moves very quickly. But remember,” what it shows is “just the tip of the iceberg.”
While people traditionally think of war and peace in black and white terms, he said, the Chinese regime looks at the gray zone, weaponizing everything from schools to one’s next-door neighbors to achieve its goals.
In the film, espionage, media disinformation, and blackmail are some of the tactics on display as the regime plots a biowar following an accidental lab leak.
Ma said that he intended for the film to be a warning to audiences. “We need to prepare for the worst, right?” he told The Epoch Times.
“Does the Party leader intend to release the virus globally to infect the whole world? Maybe, maybe not. But under that system, it’s very easy to get out of control. They will weaponize whatever they can to use it for their political purpose.”
