This is how the heart-wrenching speech at the end of God’s Own Country can help protect you from coronavirus
An image from God’s Own Country
We’re hearing plenty of advice at the moment on washing your hands. It is, we are told, the best way to stave off the spread of coronavirus.
Experts tell us we should be washing our hands very regularly and for 20-second periods to help slow the spread of the virus.
Just counting to 20 while washing your hands would be a little boring, so people have come up with other ways of measuring the time. Some recommend singing “Happy Birthday” twice while washing your hands, while others suggest the chorus of “Jolene”.
But one Twitter user has come up with the best possible way to wash your hands: by going through the speech Johnny delivers to Gheorghe in God’s Own Country.
The best way to stave off coronavirus is to wash your hands to this powerful and affecting scene from God’s Own Country.
The 2017 film, directed by Francis Lee and starring Josh O’Connor and Alec Secăreanu, is already a modern queer classic and is widely responsible for reducing LGBT+ people everywhere to weeping messes. So why not use the film’s most affecting scene to help wash your hands?
The “hand-washing guide”, shared by a Twitter user called “Josh’s Meat Plates”, includes the various steps involved in thoroughly washing your hands along with the words from Johnny’s speech.
instead of doing my homework i made a washyourlyrics thing with johnnys little speech to gheorghe in gods own country pic.twitter.com/3oNR8j4wGo
— josh’s meat plates (@josheverydaay) March 12, 2020
The powerful words were delivered in the film by Josh O’Connor, and clearly he agrees that this is the best way to wash your hands. He shared the “guide” and wrote: “In case you’re bored of Happy Birthday…..”
The tweet also drew the attention of Francis Lee, who tweeted: “I bet Johnny boy wouldn’t wash his hands…”
I bet Johnny boy wouldn’t wash his hands…— Francis Lee (@strawhousefilms) March 12, 2020
Naturally, that then started a discussion about whether or not the fictional character would be one to wash his hands – providing further evidence of just how important the film is to queer audiences.
if anyone needed to give his hands a good scrub it's Johnny Saxby ?— Chris Mandle (@chris_mandle) March 12, 2020
As panic about COVID-19 reaches a climax, the advice is clear: wash your hands.
While you probably should have been washing your hands to begin with, it is now more important than ever to do so as the coronavirus continues to spread across Europe.
Italy is currently in full lockdown and a number of other countries have taken precautionary measures, such as shutting down schools and public places.
The virus – also referred to as COVID-19 – has created panic across the globe, but experts are definitive: the best way to stop it spreading is to wash your hands.
So, what are you waiting for? Put on God’s Own Country and get scrubbing.
