I caught the Korean film The Host this weekend and the Landmark Sunshine theatre; I was expecting a monster movie but got a little more than that. First and foremost this IS a monster movie. A chemically mutated creature emerges from the Han River in Seoul and beings eating people- or rather- eating them- spitting them out- saving them for later and then eating them. The action centers on a family whose youngest member, a girl named Hyun-seo, is taken by the creature. One element that set this film apart was its use of humor to cut tension. Not an uncommon technique; but uncommonly executed in this film. Many of the scenes could potentially have serious dramatic weight- but almost always they were cut with a sort of over the top humor or joke. The most extreme example being the family’s hysterical (take that anyway you want and you’d be right) reaction at a memorial to Hyun-seo.
The other interesting thing about this movie was its depiction of the United States. This film was made in South Korea and the perspective is certainly worth noting. The film starts with a scene in which an American military official orders a worker in a Korean lab to empty chemicals into the Han River (ostensibly the agents that lead to the creature’s development). The scene is rooted in reality; “in 2000 a US military civilian employee named McFarland ordered the disposal of formaldehyde into the sewer system leading to Han River despite the objection of a Korean subordinate. Korean government attempted to prosecute Mr. McFarland in Korean court but US military refused to hand over the custody of Mr. McFarland to the Korean legal system. Later, a Korean judge convicted Mr. McFarland in absentia.” - IMDB. The United States’ actions in Iraq lurk in the subtext of the film as well. It is determined (by the United States) that those who have been in contact with the creature have been exposed to a virus – their response is extreme - later in the film it becomes apparent there was really no virus in the first place. Humm…sounds familiar.
