I went into this movie after reading its basic summary. Since it had Gong Yoo in it, I decided to go for it. I did no prior research beforehand and after finishing the film, I realized I should have.

This movie is not easy to watch, by any means. And I think that's what the makers of this movie intended it to be, and that is why it got the response it did. Did you know that this is a story based on true events? Did you know an author named Gong Ji Young wrote a book on said events? Did you know that Gong Yoo read it while he was in the army and decided to make it into a movie? This movie, caused such a visceral public reaction, that it was forced to revise a law, a law which enabled offenders of this particular crime get off with light sentences, and after the legislation was passed, the offenders were then punished justly, years after the actual crime was committed?

For those who didn't know, they know now.

The movie starts off on a morbid note. From the beginning, you are gripped by this sense of foreboding that things will take a dark turn, and oh lord, do they ever. There were times, I wanted to stop watching and never think about it, but I managed to make it to the end, somehow.

People heavily critiqued the scenes where that showcased the abuse. I can understand where they're coming from, because who wants to see that? But, in my opinion, those very scenes helped drive the point home. The point being that we live in a society where these abhorrent atrocities take place. People like these, exist. They look just like us. They are us. They don't look like the embodiment of evil, they look like your average person, your friendly neighbor, the scruffy teacher who's always in a hurry, or a member of a religious group. People who are hailed as paragons of virtue. People like these take advantage of children, because they know they're easy to manipulate and abuse and that they will get away with it.

Every actor, played their role well. To the point they made your skin crawl and your gorge rise. The actors playing the children, especially. I cannot even imagine how they managed to play the roles they did.

I can't say anything for its rewatch value. For me, once was more than enough.

Another thing that made this movie hard to forget was how the story of Minsu ended and the movie's ending. It was tragic and it was realistic. It made you realize, that justice does not always prevail, and that the bad guys get away. I will end this review by a quote from the movie, which gives you much to think about;

"Watching them grow so well, it makes me think that we should not fight to change the world itself but to stop it from changing us. "