10 Moments from 28 Years Later that will make you fall in love with Isla

Jodie Comer, once again, floored us with her powerful performance in 28 Years Later, a horror film. Comer plays Isla, Spike’s terminally ill mother who has been suffering for a long time, which has deemed her cut off from the community as she spends most of her time bedridden.

Comer’s character brought the emotional elements to 28 Years Later as she goes on forming unique bonds, be it with her son, Dr. Kelson, or even an infected. All of her scenes made the viewers feel the pain she was going through, but still surviving courageously until she decided to give up, which didn’t make her a coward, but more like deciding to rest after a long struggle.

Here are 10 moments from 28 Years Later that will make you admire and root for Isla.

Disclaimer: This article contains the writer's opinion and spoilers. Readers’ discretion is advised.

10 Moments from 28 Years Later that will make you fall in love with Isla

10) Lived with immense pain from an undetected illness for many years

Since there are no doctors post-apocalypse in 28 Years later, Isla has been living and enduring the pain and sickness caused by an illness which they have no way of detecting. Seeing her struggle, getting in and out of delusions, and her spending more time in bed makes one feel bad for her.

But even after so much pain, Isla seems courageous enough to choose to wake up every day and survive.

9) Goes with Spike to look for Kelson

Alfie Williams and Ralph Fiennes in 28 Years Later | Image via Columbia Pictures

After her father, Spike’s mother, Isla, becomes one of the only characters who is closer to him in 28 Years Later. As he finds out about his father's affair, he decides to take his mother to Dr. Kelson.

Journey to the mainland is not a difficult one, as the threats have doubled now as the infected have evolved, but the mother and son still proceed on the dangerous journey, even when Isla's moods are unpredictable due to her illness. Although not in her senses, she might still trust her son enough to sneak out with him from their village.

8) Spike persuades Isla to go to Dr. Kelson

Jodie Comer in 28 Years Later | Image via Columbia Pictures

When Spike took his mom with him out of the village in 28 Years Later, Isla was not lucid. She was in one of her delusions and did not ask many questions. However, as they were on their journey, she realised they were not in their village but somewhere near the mainland, and Jamie was not with them.

This makes her panic as she knows how dangerous the mainland is. Spike tries his best to calm his mother down and persuades her to go with him to visit Dr. Kelson to help her mother and get her treated. Isla’s trust in her son is depicted here as well, as they continue their journey in the terrifying mainland alone without Jamie’s protection.

7) Isla calls Spike her Dad

Jodie Comer and Alfie Williams in 28 Years Later | Image via Columbia Pictures

Isla and Spike share a beautiful bond in 28 Years Later. Even when her time of being lucid is limited, their conversations are heartwarming, funny, and even emotional. While they search for Dr. Kelson, Jodie strikes up a conversation and tells her son that he has his grandad’s eyes.

She then tells him how serious he used to be, but with her, he often used to be silly, which she liked. She then asks him to sleep, but Spike refuses and says he will keep watch while she sleeps. This is one of the heartwarming moments between the mother and son before their unfortunate fate is revealed.

6) Her human instinct to save the pregnant infected woman

Alphie Williams, Jodie Comer, and Ralph Fiennes in 28 Years Later | Image via Columbia Pictures

As the trio, Erik, Isla, and Spike, proceed on their journey in 28 Years Later, Isla hears a scream. She tries to locate the direction of the scream and reaches the trainwreck where an infected woman is experiencing labor pains.

In one of the most profound moments of the film, the attacker puts aside their instinct of attacking, and a human puts their instinct of fear aside, and both of them hold hands as the infected woman gives birth. This scene from 28 Years Later plays on many levels of themes as it signifies the evolution of the infected while also bringing a touch of humanity to the horrific and violent world that they live in.

5) Isla doesn’t let Erik kill the baby

Alfie Williams and Jodie Comer in 28 Years Later | Image via Columbia Pictures

After helping the infected woman give birth, Isla tries to clean the baby in 28 Years Later. However, after giving birth, the infected woman’s instinct to attack Isla comes back as she wakes up from her unconsciousness. But Erik comes at the right time and shoots the woman.

He later asks Isla to get rid of the baby as it is the infected woman’s and might also be infected. However, Isla refuses to give the baby to him as he will kill the baby just like he killed the mother, but Isla finds nothing wrong with the baby.

4) Takes the baby with her

Alphas from 28 Years Later | Image via Columbia Pictures

Even in dire situations they faced in the mainland, Isla showed surprising courage in 28 Years Later. From helping an infected woman give birth while still being afraid of her and then not letting Erick kill the baby, Isla also became a source of learning for Spike.

As she refused to let Erik kill the baby, an Alpha comes and tears Erik apart, prompting the mother and son to flee the scene, but they didn't leave the baby as Isla carried her with her while running away from the Alpha and was saved later by Dr. Kelson.

3) Her conversation with Dr. Kelson

Kelson finally gave a name to her illness as he revealed that she is suffering from cancer in 28 Years Later. The scene where Kelson checks her for her illness and she describes her illness is one of the most heartbreaking moments of the film.

She accounts for all the sufferings and her delusions, and the way she describes and knows that she has been living with these fears and illness for a long time, makes the viewer's heart break for Isla.

2) Isla comforts Spike

Spike had brought her mother to Kelson to find a cure for her illness, but is informed that she has cancer, which has advanced so much that she might die any day in 28 Years Later. He struggles with accepting the new information about his mother, who tries to make him understand the situation.

Another of the emotional and last moments shared by Isla and Spike makes it one of the most powerful moments yet a heartbreaking one.

1) Accepting her fate

In the whole movie, we have seen Isla struggle due to her cancer, and when she at last decides to give up her life, it doesn’t feel like she is trying to choose something that shouldn’t happen. It might be hard to accept, but you still cannot help but respect her decision.

At almost the end of 28 Years Later, Kelson tells her that her death will be painful, and she has the right to choose to die in a better way than she has lived her life. She chooses Kelson’s method of dying with the help of morphine darts that he used to knock the Alpha out. After living a life in pain and suffering, Isla chooses to die in her own way and without the pain she lived with, giving her finally a chance to decide for herself, as until now, it was the illness that controlled her life.