Movie spoiler alert on below content, read at your own risk.
Recently my kid has come down with the flu. I stayed by her side and offered comfort and encouraged her to drink water. While she was sleeping I started surfing the Internet for general information on the flu. Somehow, someway I came across a movie review for a Korean film called "The Flu". This intrigued me, it got very good reviews so I decided to see if it was available on the web for free. Guess what, it is! On gooddrama.net this movie is available, please check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Movie Review
This film is one of the most realistic pandemic films I have ever watched. When a group of immigrants are smuggled into Korea, one of them is a carrier of a deadly strain of bird flu. When the shipping container arrives carrying the smuggled immigrants it is found that they are all dead except for one person named Moon Sai who managed to survive.
Moon Sai fleas the shipping container into the suburbs out of fear. One of the smugglers comes down with the flu and we start to see the virus spread. This strain of flu has the ability to kill within a couple days. What's scary is the flu is a common virus that gets passed around every year, it's always changing and always evolving. That's what makes this film scary is the realistic nature of it all. One of these days will the flu as we know transition into a super flu? It's very possible.
In the beginning of the film we are introduced to Kang Ji-Koo who is part of a relief, rescue team. We also meet Kim In-Hae who is a doctor and single mother. We start to see the virus spread and the hospitals immediately become overwhelmed. They are able to determine that they need to locate the survivor of the shipping container Moon Sai as he must be carrying anti-bodies which they could use as a cure.
My all time favorite character of the film has to be the daughter Kim Mi-Reu, she's only about 5 to 6 years old but her talent and cuteness really shines through. In one scene when she was walking down the stairs with a glass of milk to feed a kitty she was saying "meow, meow, meow" it was the most adorable thing ever. This is where she accidentally meets Moon Sai and catches the flu.
In the film we see the struggle of the mother trying to keep her daughters illness a secret from the government as she knows if they find out they will be separated. We also find out in the film, the government who is unable to contain the situation are starting to kill off the sick in a mass grave the size of a football field. The mother is eventually able to separate the serum of Moon Sai and inject it into her daughters blood for the antibodies to fight off the virus.
We also get to see the struggle of the Korean government and how they handle the situation being unprepared. We see the struggle of the President, trying to do whats right for his people but the internal struggle between what he wants and what his allies want. There is strong pressure with all eyes being on Korea regarding how they are handling the situation.
The scene that made me cry like a baby was when they told the infected that anyone who crossed the orange line will be shot. Mi-Reu was on the side of the orange line with the infected and Mi-Reu's mom was on the other side of the orange line and Mi-Reu doing what any kid would do ran to her mother. It was stressful watching Mi-Reu running towards the orange line, the gunman getting ready to take the shot, all I could do was weep and scream at the screen "don't cross the line Mi-Reu!". Mi-Reu's mother blocks the bullet from Mi-Reu and Mi-Reu runs out waving her arms crying and saying "Don't shoot my mom!" A very strong and touching scene!
All in all, I give this film a huge thumbs up. It was realistic and well written. It will make your stomach turn into knots and it offers a complete ending (there is another clip in the middle of the credits). I highly recommend watching this film!
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