Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This film offers an intense emotional experience. There are a few flaws, however, in the end, the only thing that ends up mattering is the well being of this child who endured such a horrific fate. But now on to the film making aspect and what makes this movie so effective. To begin with, the acting is great. One thing that stands out about Korean movies to me is the child acting, I've watched 3 Korean films this week with 3 excellent child actress'.First Train To Busan, then The Wailing, and now the best out of the 3, Wish, or Hope, or Su-Won, or whatever. The point is, her acting was fantastic, and so was the rest of the cast. Reading the plot description of the movie makes it sound as though the movie will be depressing, which it obviously is. However, the beauty of humanity shines through more then the horrific tragedy that befell this girl. The way everyone comes together to help her was presented in a powerful way that brought me to tears. This never happened to me during a movie before, but this movie did it, I actually cried. The development of the relationship between Su-Won's parents is believable and engaging. The actress that plays Su-Won is incredibly talented and was the best part of the movie. There are a small amount of minor flaws with the film, but they don't stand in the way of the pure emotional experience this film gives the audience, and because of the movie succeeding on that level, I will not rate it less than a 10. But also the rating I see on IMDb is 8.5, which is too low for this movie, and a 10 rating will help that, so that's what I'm doing. This review may not have been the best, but honestly you should just experience the movie for yourself, it's sitting on Netflix right now.

The film is about a 8-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by drunk man in her way to school. This 8-year-old girl was Im Sowon (stared by Lee Re). The other main casts are Sol Kyung Gu as Im Dong Hoon, Sowon's father, and Uhm Ji Won as Kim Mi-Hee, Sowon's mother. This movie was directed by Lee Joon Ik. This movie is based on a true story, the horrific rape in 2008 of an 8-year-old girl called "Na Young" by a drunk 57-years-old man. This movie evoked a lot of controversy whether this movie reopen the old wound of the victim, Nayoung. The story begin when Sowon went to school by her own. In her way to school, she met a shabby looking man asking to share her umbrella with him, since it was raining. But then, shortly, Sowon was dragged by the man into an abandoned building near the school, and was beaten and raped until her intestines spill out. She survived from the assault by calling 119 (emergency call number in Korea).ACTORS & ACTRESS--The characters of this movie was well played by the actors and actress, even the children actors and actress did a great job in bringing the character live. For the example, Han Young Seok (Sowon's classmate) character was well played by Kim Do Yeop. I cried a lot in the scene when Young Seok cried out of guilty because he didn't wait for Sowon on the way to school and he blamed himself in a very sweet and innocent way. I also love the way Sol Kyung Gu brought the character of Im Dong- Hoon (Sowon's father) to live. The way he cried and raged was full of emotion that makes the audience know really well what his character was feeling. He was success fully being a desperate father of a sexually abused child. I just can't help crying when he cried. Overall, the actress and the actors are all excellent.FAMILY THEME--I love the interaction between Sowon and his father, Donghoon. The way he want to protect her daughter very much, and the way he want to cheer up her daughter without scare her were the sweetest thing I found in this movie. (After the incident, Sowon showed a tendency of being uneasy/scared around men, including her father, so her father wore Kokomong, Sowon's favorite cartoon character, costume every time he showed up in front of Sowon).FRIENDSHIP THEME--I like the friendship between Sowon's mother and Youngseok's mother and the friendship between Sowon's father and Youngseok's fathers. The fathers and the mothers have very good relationship, and they are not only friends, they are neighbors and best friends who help each other whenever the other are in difficulties. For example, when Donghoon needed some money and he called Youngseok's father and asked about severance pay that he would get if he left his job, but Youngseok's father knew that his friend needed money, so he was willing to lend him some of his savings. Okay, this is very sweet and heartwarming, and I cried again in this scene. And at last, Youngseok and Sowon became friends. Youngseok promised that he will always keep Sowon safe.In short, this movie is one of the best which could bring us to experience the real problem that the main character had by the great acting of the actors, the splendid story and some touching scene. Sexsual abuse victims may be able to recover from physical injuries, but rarely from those who can recover from their psychic injuries, if not directly handle. The film gives a message that the importance of the parent's role in supervising the child and the importance of educating the child to avoid crime as told in this film.

This movie is just amazing. This is the first Korean movie I watch, and it touched my soul............ I would watch 100 times more The story is well-built the performance of Hope's and her mom and dad are way better than any actors/actresses I just can't thank Joon-ik Lee enough Everything in the acting seems to be so perfect

First of all, KUDOS to the director for keeping it gore-free. And thanks to him for such a DECENT, SENSITIVE and yet POWERFUL portrayal of a real-life incident without all the unnecessary elements. OMG! the way he handled a delicate topic very effectively and efficiently!! Any other (insensitive) director would have butchered the script and screenplay. WOW! Take a (lots of) bow, the ENTIRE CREW. EXTREMELY emotional. NEVER once did the director steer away from the subject. This EASILY TOPS as the BEST movie to WATCH in the history of world cinema. I'm already using this movie as benchmark and bashing other movies that they are not up to this movie's mark! Such is the impact of this movie on me.There is no 100/10 on IMDb. Otherwise, my rating for this movie is exactly that and may be even more because 10/10 seems to be blase after watching this movie.Even the little boy who cries towards the end for not accompanying the girl on that day, was so powerful histrionics-wise, that I'm BOWLED over by all the performances!! SPELL-BOUND! All the 3 lead actors DESERVED an Oscar each. I will give away one to each of them, really. The music was sensitive and seamless too, without jarring your ears. And coming back to the story, I cannot believe this was an actual incident that happened. The scene between the father and the daughter at the hospital when he tries to shift her to another room is very touching! The emotions choke you because truth is always bitter. How the community chips in to help in every which way they could, is a revelation! And WHAT the heck do you say about the JUDGE for going "easy" on the pervert bastard?! HE should have been the first one to be beaten to death. Does not he even have the basic IQ to analyze that the pervert criminal had all the time and "sanity" of the brain to plan this and leave her to death? No matter where you are, women and children have to be careful, they cannot rest on the immoral judges or ridiculous judiciary system or the spineless police force. I could not digest the sentence or the judge's words. And what a BRAVE girl is she! HOPE she is safe, sound and happy, even after the pervert is released.