‘The Host’ showcases Korea’s best of the best in film making

NAIROBI: Not even the most sophisticated weapons can conquer the unknown and deadly monster that has an insatiable appetite for human flesh and blood.

With this reality, humankind is pushed to the wall and it must do everything possible to survive.

This is the riveting story of The Host, a film by Korean director Jon Boon-hoo.

The story plot is heightened when the only love of a Korean family — a daughter — is swallowed alive by an ogre and the determination by the uncle to get her back alive only adds to the thrill.

When all hope to find her and other victims dashes, a sudden call from the little girl is what the uncle requires to keep hope alive and continue in his search.

And like the Biblical story of Jonah, she is found alive in some filthy sewage line underneath a bridge across the large river where the ogre deposits its human catch.

The monster vomits his victims alive and deposits them into a reservoir pit.

Interestingly, when push comes to shove, the very mundane and simple tool such as the arrow is what delivers the nation hitherto under fear and real threat of extinction by this amorphous semi-aquatic alien.

The film takes a similar shape as the box office big flicks of Godzilla and Naiconda whose stories are bed rocked on extraordinary creatures able to cause unprecedented panic by the sheer size and ability to destroy.

The Host is a breathtaking story that does not limit itself to entertainment but gives a sneak view into the Korean society where graft thrives among the security details.

It also depicts a Western-imposed hypothesis of epidemics and use of populations from the South as guinea pigs for medical experiments.

The film showcases great talent from big names in Korea like Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and Go Ah-sung.

Having such accomplished actors in the film is one of its main strengths making it a consummate story that can easily be understood even without the English sub-text.

The unique angles to pictures and the knack for details brings such nuance to set and location. Watching the film for the first time, I could actually smell the filth of the under-bridge where the monster keeps its catch on the Han River.

The screening of the Host was part of the Korean Film Festival that opened on June 24, and closed yesterday at the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi.

Other films screened were Forever The Moment, Nameless Gangster, The Thieves, Papa and Haeundae.