Inso, Karla Denice A.

B 7L
2013-00224

April 10, 2015

Gamgi
The Flu
Gamgi is a Korean movie released last August 2013 and directed by Kim Sung Soo. The
movie is about a communicable disease caused by an unknown virus that had spread in the city
of Bundang in Korea. A container van from Hongkong was delivered to Bundang which was
filled with illegal immigrants of different nationality. Only one survived the 9-day trip. The first
victim of the unknown virus was one of the persons who opened the container. After the
container was opened, many citizens of Bundang experienced the same symptoms as the initial
victim. Growing number of deaths had occurred from that day on. The officials of Korea and
Bundang as well as the doctors had different views on how to solve the problem and to stop the
virus from spreading which cause chaos within the operation as well as to the citizens.
I first watched the movie for an incentive under Sir Remollo for his Eng 2 class. The title
of the movie gave the audience an idea on what is the movie all about. Majority of the scenes in
the movie are dramatic but there would be funny scenes that would help lighten up the situation.
The movie did not just discuss the flu itself but it also shows how the government handled the
problem. I got disappointed at the first decisions made by the congressman of Bundang during
the first meeting regarding the new influenza that had spread. Rather than paying attention to the
case, the politicians prefer to chill out since there are only few cases. But still, they did not pay
attention on what the doctors were trying to say and the consequences. What struck me is how
the Minister gave importance on the survival of the majority of the population of Korea that is
not affected by the virus. It reached to the point that he is ready to sacrifice the people of
Bundang, even if it is own people. The passion of the President of Korea is really great. He is
ready to face the consequences that would rise after standing up for the citizens of Bundang with
American based
The movie is somehow related to Microbiology because it tackles about the effect of
influenza. Influenza is a disease caused by virus. Viruses are known to be relatively small and
need hosts in order to live and are studied in virology which is one of the fields under
microbiology.
I believe that the plot of the movie can happen in reality. Just like what our Lecturer in
MCB 1 had said, viruses can mutate and the doctors had thought in the movie. In the movie, th
container had been used by the unknown virus to mutate. Once a person was infected, the
unknown virus was compared to past Asian bird flu due to similarity of symptoms. Bird Flu
cannot be transmitted to humans. But if a virus that came from bird flu had mutated and such
bird containing the mutated Bird flu virus had made direct or indirect contact to a human, the
mutated bird flu may then transfer to the human body and infect it. Some of the bird flu that had
infected the humans before, which continuously became a threat to mankind, are AH5N1 and
AH7N1. Other kinds of domestic animal influenzas were being monitored for its possibility of
infecting humans some day.