plague outbreak

His documentaries and films obsessively explore human desperation and survival against catastrophic circumstances, culminating in works like 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God' that examine civilization's collapse.

His historical epics, particularly those dealing with Polish wartime experiences, profoundly examine collective trauma, mass death, and societal breakdown during plague-like devastation.

His body horror films and explorations of disease, contamination, and epidemiological fear ('Shivers', 'Rabid', 'eXistenZ') make plague outbreak a visceral and recurring thematic obsession.