Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Taiwan SARS outbreak reenacted; suicide, language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Eye of the Storm
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In EYE OF THE STORM, Dr. Xia (Po-Chieh Wang) is a cynical Taipei surgeon hurrying to leave his hospital shift to get to his young daughter's birthday. He seems to be divorced, a guy who doesn't see his kid often enough, which may be why he callously leaves even before his shift is over. When a nurse begs him to review new developments of one of his patients, he seems unconcerned. He's out of the hospital when he receives a call to return, which he does just before the hospital locks down because of an outbreak of the deadly SARS virus. It's suggested that the administration has been downplaying the presence of SARS in the building to avoid panic, but they can no longer ignore the growing number of SARS patients. Patients with fever and coughing are quarantined in the B wing, as are any staff thought to be in contact with the infected. That sector starts to feel like a death cell, where all inhabitants are doomed. Doctors and nurses there refuse to treat needy patients. The media covers their protest. In fact, an intrepid journalist roams freely around the hospital looking for clues to the origins of the outbreak. Xia and he trace the outbreak to the company that supplies the hospital linens. How can the crisis be managed?
Is It Any Good?
Once the virus is sweeping through a hospital, Eye of the Storm becomes a repetitive mashup of clichés. A selfish surgeon learns to have a heart. A kindly cab driver helps a lonely little girl. A dedicated nurse puts himself at risk. Stock characters abound, and long monologues rehash observations that have been made as the film chews on the same material over and over. No actual plot ties any of this together.
Although parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic are obvious, the details of this will probably resonate far more deeply with those who actually lived through the Taipei SARS outbreak. Other audiences will wish for a more cogent plot. The film does a good job of depicting moments when medical providers demonstrate the fear and self-preservation instincts more commonly seen in non-medical professionals. But it's not good at telling us anything about the motivations of its main characters. We have no idea why a selfish, cynical surgeon suddenly grows enough of a conscience to deliberately risk his well-being by tending to a dying SARS patient. He just does. And we, completely uninvolved, just shrug. The film inserts some actual 2003 footage depicting the panic in the streets during the SARS outbreak, but that touch of reality can't fix the film's problems.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the difficulty of being a frontline health care provider at a time when a contagious virus is spreading. How do you think you would weigh the professional responsibility of caring for the sick against the personal risk of becoming ill?
Dr. Xia seems particularly uncompassionate when we first meet him. What do you think makes him suddenly feel a responsibility toward his patients?
What does this film about the lethal SARS virus outbreak in 2003 Taiwan tell us about the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic? Were lessons learned from the SARS incident about caring for patients under high-pressure circumstances and about caring for the health and well-being of health care professionals under stress?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : August 15, 2023
- Cast : Po-Chieh Wang , Jing-Hua Tseng , Chloe Xiang
- Director : Chun-Yang Lin
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Drama
- Run time : 119 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 6, 2023
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