Flu (film)

Flu
Hangul 감기
Revised Romanization Gamgi
McCune–Reischauer Kamgi
Directed by Kim Sung-su
Produced by Kim Sung-jin
Seo Jong-hae
Jeong Hoon-tak
Im Young-ju
Written by Lee Yeong-jong
Kim Sung-su
Starring Soo Ae
Jang Hyuk
Music by Kim Tae-seong
Cinematography Lee Mo-gae
Edited by Nam Na-yeong
Production
company
Distributed by iLoveCinema
CJ Entertainment
Release dates
  • August 14, 2013 (2013-08-14)
Running time
 121 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean
Box office US$19,775,853[1]

Flu (Hangul: 감기; RR: Gamgi) is a 2013 South Korean disaster film written and directed by Kim Sung-su about an outbreak of a deadly disease which throws a city into chaos. It stars Jang Hyuk and Soo Ae.[2][3][4][5][6]

Plot

A group of illegal immigrants are smuggled to South Korea inside a shipping container, but when it's opened in the affluent Seoul suburb of Bundang by traffickers, it's discovered that all of the immigrants are dead, except for one man, a carrier of a deadly strain of H5N1 (avian influenza, or bird flu). As the man escapes, he quickly spreads the virus to nearby residents. Mir (Park Min-ha), daughter of a single mother Kim In-hae (Soo Ae), meets the man, named Mossai, and gives him some food and tells him to wait as she calls rescue worker and paramedic Kang Ji-goo (Jang Hyuk). However, as he arrives, Mossai is nowhere to be found.

One of the traffickers presents himself at a trauma centre with the symptoms of the flu. Doctors are perplexed on his condition and consider the diagnosis of H5N1. His accompanying brother becomes aggressive as a "Code Blue" is declared over the hospital's intercom, indicating that his brother has entered cardiac arrest. He runs into the isolation room of his brother, who has already expired.

A meeting of doctors and politicians is held. A doctor insists on the lockdown of Bundang, which is met with sharp criticism by a Congressman who is worried about his approval ratings. Meanwhile, the virus spreads at an alarming rate, with it being airborne. 2,000 new cases are being reported every hour, and the hospitals are overloaded with people vomiting blood and expiring.

Finally, a decision is made to lockdown the city. Roads and subway trains leading out are all shut down, and troops are called in to forcibly move all residents into a quarantine camp. It is determined through footage that the single survivor in the container is an antibody carrier and an APB is sent out to find him, as he could be a source for a vaccine.

In the quarantine camp, infected persons are separated and placed in cages. It is later revealed that they are placed in plastic bags, with some of them still alive and thrown into a pit in Tancheon Stadium and incinerated. Mir is found to be infected by her mother, but manages to sneak through the head to toe examination. Her condition deteriorates, just as the antibody carrier is found. In desperation, Mir's mother takes her to the room containing Mossai, the person with the antibody, and does a blood transfusion, just before the door is kicked down and she is tranquilized by a soldier.

Mir is brought to the pit of bodies to be incinerated, but is rescued by Kang Ji-goo. The uninfected people see the pit and a riot ensues, forcing the evacuation of all medical and military personnel from the camp. Kim In-hae and the antibody carrier are the last to be evacuated, however, he is stabbed multiple times before he is evacuated by the first victim's brother, and dies on the way to the control center.

The mob of people from the camp reach their way to the city limits of Bundang, where a checkpoint of soldiers are waiting. The South Korean defense minister, citing the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States and South Korea, clears the soldiers to engage the unarmed civilians, against the orders of the President, who is enraged. Dozens of people are shot and killed, and the civilians withdraw.

Mir, who is slowly recovering due to the development of antibodies in her system, is brought by Ji-goo to the city limit. They are separated and Mir runs with the crowd, which is again now slowly moving towards the border. An order is given by the defense minister to shoot anyone who crosses the border, which is indicated by an Orange Line. Mir's mother runs from the other side from the border, through the soldiers who try in vain to stop her.

As Mir sees her mother on the other side, she starts running towards the Orange Line. A general orders a soldier to fire. The soldier hesitates and the general puts a gun to his head, reinstating his order to fire. The soldier is forced to fire, whose bullet hits the mother. The wound however, is not critical. Mir uses herself as a human shield and pleads with the soldiers not to fire. The soldiers do not fire any further shots, moved by the young girl's tears.

Seeing that In-hae being shot, the mob rushes in front of them as human shield. The Minister of Defense stands down and withdraws the operation. However, his American counterpart orders in an airstrike with American fighter jets. The South Korean president, who is informed of Mir as being an antibody carrier, states that he has supreme command of Capital Defence, and puts out a call to ready surface-to-air missiles, and to shoot down the approaching jets.

The SAMs lock on the jets, but they are called off by an American general at the last second. An ambulance later brings Mir to a hospital where a vaccine and a cure is developed.

Ji-goo, Mir and In-hae are later seen on their way to a holiday, with South Korea returning to normal.

Cast

English voice-over cast

References

  1. ↑ "Kamki (Flu) (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2014-02-24.
  2. ↑ Ahn, Joo-hee (9 August 2013). "Flu spreads horror throughout Seoul suburb". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  3. ↑ Yun, Suh-young (11 August 2013). "The Flu to chill the summer". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  4. ↑ Song, Soon-jin (10 December 2013). "THE FLU Becomes 1st Korean Film to Receive Direct Distribution in UK". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  5. ↑ Lee, Maggie (24 September 2013). "Film Review: Flu". Variety. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
  6. ↑ McCahill, Mike (21 November 2013). "Flu – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-08-08.
  7. ↑ Ho, Stewart (17 April 2012). "Soo Ae Cast Opposite Jang Hyuk in Cold". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  8. ↑ An, So-hyoun (9 July 2013). "Soo Ae Says Jang Hyuk is More Attractive at Noraebangs". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  9. ↑ Lee, Claire (19 August 2013). "Soo Ae: Best characters have iron fist in a velvet glove". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
  10. ↑ Son, Bo-kyung (23 August 2013). "Interview: Soo Ae Praises The Flu, Jang Hyuk and Kim Sung Soo". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
  11. ↑ "Jang Hyuk catches cinematic Flu". Korea JoongAng Daily. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  12. ↑ Hong, Lucia (21 February 2012). "Jang Hyuk to play male lead in Kim Sung-soo film". 10Asia. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  13. ↑ Son, Bo-kyung (17 August 2013). "Interview: Jang Hyuk Shows His Trust in Director Kim Sung Soo and Soo Ae". enewsWorld. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  14. ↑ "Spreading word of The Flu". Korea JoongAng Daily. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  15. ↑ A Filipino student in Korea is in the cast of “The Flu” or 감기, which stars Jang Hyuk and Soo Ae..

External links

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