Dr. Nathalie Dougé at a 2020 protest in The First Wave (National Geographic Documentary Films/NEON)

This harrowing documentary chronicles the initial surge of Covid-19 infections in New York City between March and June 2020. Most of the action takes place at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, where the doctors and nurses find themselves overwhelmed by a disease they know little about. However, it’s clear early on just how lethal the coronavirus is: a patient says goodbye to his family via a video call before abruptly flatlining. The staff works feverishly to resuscitate him, but moments later, just when it seems like he might be stable, things take a turn for the worst.

The main subjects include Nathalie Dougé, a young Black doctor and daughter of Haitian immigrants who tries to keep herself emotionally distanced from what’s happening around her, which isn’t easy given that most of her patients are Black, Latino, or immigrant—the populations among those worst affected by the pandemic. Two of the hospital’s patients are fighting for their lives: Ahmed Ellis, a Black public safety officer, and Brussels Jabon, a Filipino nurse who contracted COVID-19 and passed it on to her large family, who have all been quarantined as a result. Initially, everything we learn about Ellis and Jabon is through loved ones due to how dire their conditions are. The film underlines how devastating the virus can be as Ellis and Jabon struggle not only to breathe but to speak or so much as move.

Every scene in The First Wave feels like it’s taking place either at the heart of a storm or the calm right before the next one. Ill patients flow into the emergency room at an alarming rate, to which director Matthew Heineman cranks up the sound and increases the speed of his edits, reflecting the intensity and chaos. The sequences in between rushes are less frenetic but also intense as the health care workers deal with their ever-increasing mental and emotional strain. It isn’t just the medical staff either. The families of Ellis and Jabon spend most of their time sitting quietly at home, expressing cautious optimism about their loved one’s recovery, but we can see the weight of the world on them through their body language.

Heineman’s camera peers over his subjects’ shoulders to the extent that it becomes a forgotten presence, but there are also exterior shots in which it looks down and across New York City. The stark images include near-deserted bridges, streets, and public buildings. The filmmakers, meanwhile, always have one eye on how city and state agencies are reacting to the emergency, and to that end, they feature footage and audio clips from then-governor Andrew Cuomo’s press conferences. If one can look past how Cuomo was eventually forced to resign from office, he’s a steadying presence who offers hope in the context of this film.

The city is itself a character that evolves over the course of the film as the coronavirus charges through it. Heineman documents a number of events that New Yorkers who were around during those months will recall, not all of which were negative—such as the public cheering on first responders. But there is constant interplay between what occurs outside of the hospital and the emotions of those inside. One of the more compelling subplots involves Dr. Dougé, who is under maximum stress at work, becoming involved in the citywide protests over the police murder of George Floyd. These scenes are powerful, but they also seem like a natural outgrowth of the pandemic, which as one subject points out, exposed all manner of social, economic, and racial disparities.

While there is palpable tension throughout The First Wave, it’s also full of intimate, human moments due to the camaraderie that develops among doctors and nurses and between staff members and patients. Everything Heineman documents over the nerve-wracking four months culminates in an ending that might be as hopeful as possible without losing sight of how a “first wave” is inevitably followed by more. The recent news about a new coronavirus variant makes this film relevant viewing, if only to remind us of a way of living we may, unfortunately, be revisiting soon.