Although the content is terrifying, this is just not a good movie. There is no forward action and no plot to speak of. The acting and production values are great. But it felt as though it were shot in real time. The movie depicts day after day after day of misery. The other reviewers seem to think it was a good movie because of how it represents man's horrific behavior. But that doesn't mean it's a good film. It's a good depiction of how rotten people can be, not good cinema and Lord knows, it's not entertaining.

It also seems interesting that there are claims made that we haven't seen anything like this before. We just saw a nearly identical lashing- to-a-post-and-being-whipped in last year's CLOUD ATLAS.

A good example of this time period being represented artistically is Toni Morrison's book BELOVED. A simple visual representation of cruelty is not art.