A scene from "The Host." Credit: Showbox Entertainment Anyone trying to understand South Korea's struggle with the MERS virus outbreak should take a look at a Korean monster movie called "The Host" from 2006. "The Host" doesn't actually predict South Korea's outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome almost a decade ahead of time. But the film does paint a familiar picture of South Korean society's crisis in confidence stemming from the outbreak of a terrifying and somewhat mysterious disease. It also captures a strong sense of mistrust in government efforts to control the disease that mirrors the public's current distrust of the government's ability to control the MERS outbreak. Long before his blockbuster film adaptation of the dystopian story "Snowpiercer," South Korean director Bong Joon-ho envisioned a film about a giant mutant monster living in the Han River. The monster of "The Host" eventually emerges to terrorize Seoul, the South Korean capital, and creates an even bigger crisis when the U.S. military and South Korean government declare the monster to be the host of a mysterious virus. That premise allows the film to create a rich stew of political satire where references to Korean history, politics and culture frequently bubble up in the midst of the chaos. But the heart of the film centers upon a misfit family consisting of a middle-aged father, his two adult sons and daughter, and a granddaughter whose abduction by the monster drives the film's main tension. "The Host" mercilessly caricatures the government's confused response to the supposed virus in the film. Most figures of authority, including police officers, the military, and disease control workers, typically appear officious, apathetic and lacking in empathy. In one scene, a health official wearing a yellow biohazard suit bullies the grieving families of the monster's initial victims while deflecting their questions about why they're being put into quarantine. When a main character admits that he's potentially been exposed to the virus, workers in biohazard suits pounce on him and bundle both him and the family off to the hospital. The main characters end up at crowded hospital where they're overseen by tired-looking physicians and nurses and allowed to sit around without proper medical precautions.
A hospital scene from "The Host." Credit: Showbox Entertainment The film also shows ordinary citizens all wearing the masks and watching the latest vague news reports to suggest a society under siege from an invisible threat. One particular scene shows a coughing mask wearer remove his mask to hock up some phlegm -- basically negating the point of wearing the mask in the first place -- as nearby pedestrians eye him in fear and disgust. A few main characters of "The Host" eventually begin to wonder about the nature of the virus as the government's approach to the crisis only feeds the sense of uncertainty.
