[2][3][4][5][6] Calling the film "the most painful experience in my 30 years as a filmmaker," director Chung Ji-young wanted the audience to reflect on the theme of torture.

[7] He said he found the courage to make the film so that Korean viewers will "engage with our sad history and the sacrifices of great people like Kim Geun-tae in a concrete, meaningful way.

Kim Jong-tae (Park Won-sang), 37, a prominent activist against the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan and onetime commissioner of the Youth Federation for Democracy, is arrested and taken to a special interrogation facility in Namyeong-dong, a district in the center of Seoul synonymous with political torture in the 1970s and 80s because it was the location of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA).

The next day, after finding Jong-tae tried to smuggle out a note to his wife (Woo Hee-jin), Lee resumes a more painful version of water torture, as well as electric shocks.

[16] Though it was very strongly reviewed with many critics calling it one of the best Korean films of 2012, its subject matter is believed to have intimidated many viewers, resulting in low box office returns.