Golden Horse Turns 60: 'Eye of the Storm'
Director Lin Chun-yang's Golden Horse nominated movie "Eye of the Storm" dramatizes one of Taiwan's most shocking public health emergencies, the total lockdown of a Taipei hospital during the 2003 SARS outbreak.
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00:00 Come on.
00:01 Push me inside.
00:06 Okay, push.
00:07 Please stop.
00:08 17 years before the COVID-19 pandemic,
00:11 an outbreak of another coronavirus shook Asia.
00:15 Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS for short,
00:19 killed over 20% of people who caught the disease in Taiwan,
00:23 leaving a painful mark on society here,
00:26 one that director Lin Chun-yang explores
00:28 in his Golden Horse Award-nominated movie,
00:31 Eye of the Storm.
00:32 This incident in Taipei City
00:34 was a major public health emergency.
00:37 Because of that incident,
00:38 we are now in the midst of COVID-19,
00:43 and our medical resources,
00:44 our quarantine rooms,
00:46 and the entire public health system
00:49 are ready to deal with this war.
00:55 Lin's film is a dramatisation
00:57 of the sudden lockdown of Herping Hospital
00:59 in Taipei in April 2003,
01:02 when the city government isolated
01:04 over 1,000 medical staff and patients
01:07 for up to two weeks.
01:08 31 people died inside the hospital.
01:12 Lin said he wanted to accurately depict
01:14 the difficult and graphic conditions
01:17 healthcare professionals work in.
01:19 In the process of creation,
01:20 we must constantly improve our technical skills,
01:23 including the restoration of a hospital,
01:25 including all the medical staff,
01:28 doctors must have their own
01:29 behavioral, external, and technical skills.
01:32 Eye of the Storm follows a fictional surgeon,
01:35 played by Wang Baojie,
01:36 and his colleagues as they struggle
01:38 to manage panicked patients
01:40 confined within the hospital,
01:42 all this while dealing with the virus
01:44 and trying to keep it from spreading.
01:46 Lin wanted his film to depict
01:48 the warlike nature of such incidents.
01:52 He says it's a metaphor for the battles
01:53 people face across the world
01:55 every day.
02:23 Lin's film is also a study of human nature,
02:26 particularly on how people act during crises,
02:30 while not patronizing the audience
02:31 by trying to teach them what's right or wrong.
02:34 (speaking in foreign language)
02:38 (speaking in foreign language)
03:07 Eye of the Storm is available to watch on Netflix.
03:11 It's nominated for eight awards
03:12 at the 60th Golden Horse Awards,
03:14 including the most coveted award,
03:16 Best Narrative Feature.
03:18 The awards ceremony is set to take place
03:20 on November 25th.
03:22 Luffy Lee and Rhys Ayres for Taiwan Plus.
03:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]