By Rosario Brenda Gonzalez
Produced in 2006, The Host has some master strokes of dark comedy and political satire, making for an engaging and enjoyable movie-watching experience. The opening scene has two scientists working in a laboratory. One of them, an American, complained of dust in the 200 bottles of formaldehyde, ordering his South Korean assistant to spill the bottles’ contents down the drain.
The latter protested, saying that these toxic chemicals would end up in the Han River. The superior insisted by saying,” The Han River is very broad, Mr. Kim. Let’s try to be broad-minded about this. Anyway, that’s an order, so start pouring.”
Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host, was inspired to come up with this film after reading an article about a deformed fish with an S-shaped spine caught in the Han River. As part of a generation of South Koreans who opposed authoritarianism and military rule, Bong has many references to past events in his only third attempt at filmmaking. An American scientist stationed at a U.S. Military base in South Korea reportedly ordered bottles of formaldehyde to flow down the drain in 2000.
Authorities also used “Agent Yellow,” a state-of-the-art chemical and deployment system developed by the United States (U.S.) to fight off the “virus or biological terror” in this rollicking and riveting movie. “Agent Yellow” targeted not only the monster resulting from dumping of toxic chemicals but also rallyists against American intervention in South Korea. This is obviously an allusion to “Agent Orange,” a mixture of herbicides which the Americans used during the Vietnam War.
By creating a monster that surfaced after six years from the dumping of toxic chemicals the Americans in The Host are now saying the monster carries a virus diverting from the real issue of accountability. They are, obviously, trying to hide their involvement in this crime against the Korean people.
A U.S. Army medical staff announced that anyone who gets in contact with the monster will be infected. Except for a government official who failed to explain the situation to quarantined citizens and resorted to simply suggest watching the television news, South Korean government response is nowhere to be found.
The Park family members are believed to have contacted the virus when the monster jumped out of Han River going after everyone that was on its way. Park Gang-du somehow lost his daughter Hyun-seo while fleeing from the monster in one of the memorable tragic-comic scenes in the film. Together with his father Hee-bong (Byun Hee-bong) and siblings Hae-ji (Park Hae-il) and Nam-joo (Bae Doona), Gang-du searched for Hyun-seo, who after being caught by the monster, was left in a sewer from which she frantically called her father asking for help.
This is where The Host, the most-watched South Korean movie at the time of its release, best assumed its genre-bending quality shifting from comedy to thriller and then to drama and back again to comedy. With topnotch acting from Bong Joon-Ho regular Song Kang-ho as the bumbling, protein-deprived but rising-to-the-occasion single parent, Song brings with him the natural flair for acting that has long fascinated cinephiles.
From high school Song immediately went to theatre acting where he honed his skills for more than a decade. He has worked with South Korea’s best directors including Park Chan-wook, Lee Chan-dong and Kim Jee-won.
Byun Hee-bong who played the head of the Park family along with Park Hae-il and Bae Donna also gave outstanding performances. Similar to Song, the three other leading thespians in The Host all worked with Director Bong in previous films.
Although some would refer to The Host as a horror and monster movie, there is actually no horror element that truly scares in the film. But tackling themes of social significance such as foreign intervention and government neglect, audiences will realize the real horror in the movie: the virus was never found and the South Korean crisis was due to misinformation. #
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Rosario Brenda Gonzalez is a long-time development worker who discovered South Korean films and television series during the pandemic. She was encouraged to review 18 South Korean movies, 2 South Korean television series, and 1 Japanese television series upon realizing that many of these tackled social issues in an informative and entertaining manner.
A BA Journalism graduate of UP Diliman, Ms. Gonzalez has been a project evaluator and development management trainer for more than three decades. Prior to that, she was a human rights and church worker.