The story of the medical staff imprisoned within the hospital after it is placed under quarantine owing to the spread of a deadly virus is told in the drama film “Eye of the Storm” on Netflix. The story, which takes place in 2003, is told from the viewpoints of different persons who are present at the hospital. One of them is Dr. Zheng Xia, a thoracic surgeon who wants to leave the hospital so he may attend his daughter’s birthday party at home but is called back because the hospital is cut off from the outside world.
Because it centres on a similar concept and gives the audience a glimpse into what it’s like for frontline personnel to operate in the midst of an outbreak, about which they themselves have little to no knowledge, the movie resonates with the public, especially in the post-Covid era. You might ask if the show is based on actual occurrences due to the plot’s premise and the storytelling’s realism. What you should know about it is as follows.
Is Eye of the Storm a True Story?
The historical events that occurred in 2003 at Heping Hospital, also known as Heping Fuyou Branch of Taipei City Hospital, served as the inspiration for the fictional story “Eye of the Storm.” The movie, which was written by Liu Tsun-han, imagines its own interpretation of events, but it seldom makes anything up outside the backstories of the characters. Based on genuine events and people who were present at Ground Zero twenty years ago, the outbreak, the response, and the consequences of everyone’s acts that followed are all fictional.
More than a thousand people were detained inside Taipei’s Heping Hospital on April 24, 2003, after it was shut down. In reaction to news of the SARS virus spread inside the hospital, this was done. The entire hospital was placed under quarantine for two weeks by the authorities in an effort to control it. Around seven hospital employees had already displayed SARS symptoms at that point, and there were 28 SARS cases nationwide.
The plan was to contain the sickness within the medical facility and stop it from spreading outside of it. The authorities, however, moved quickly and didn’t pay much regard to the fact that the majority of those present before quarantine weren’t afflicted. By putting them near the infected, the uninfected were also put in danger. The quantity of instances increased to 26 by the end of the first day of the shutdown.
On March 14, 2003, the first SARS virus case in the nation was determined. It was a businessman who had just left China. A laundry worker who began experiencing health issues on April 12 remained to work despite being the first confirmed case of SARS at Heping Hospital. On April 18, she was placed in isolation, and on April 22, a test revealed that she had SARS. In the hospital, the illness spread from this point.
The doctors and nurses in “Eye of the Storm” become terrified by the sudden quarantine and isolation from their friends and family. Some refuse to leave the room and tend to other patients as they go on strike, locking themselves inside. Others shout protests and wave signs from the hospital windows, pleading to be allowed to leave rather than being compelled to be close to the infected patients.
This portrayal of the hospital staff’s response at the time was accurate. According to reports, several doctors blocked off a part of the hospital and made it their safe haven, preventing anyone from entering or even approaching them. The infected patients were being treated in Building B, and the personnel experienced prejudice from other hospital employees. They were shunned for being carriers and were not permitted to enter the authorised rest area. The worry was not unwarranted; by the time the quarantine was lifted, sixteen of the nurses working in the B wing had contracted the disease, leaving only two nurses to care for all the patients.
In another instance, the employees hoisted white banners and even attempted to flee, which resulted in a confrontation with the police. One nurse allegedly attempted to leap out of an eighth-floor window. This exposed the terror and desperation of those trapped in the hospital and how this unexpected change of events affected their mental health. All of this is depicted in Netflix’s “Eye of the Storm” in order to give the audience a narrative of the events that is, although being fictionalised, as accurate as possible.
