this be what might be call postmodern naturalism . director ki duk kim tell a brutal story without comment and without mercy . he remind u of some human truth that will make some viewer uncomfortable and and he invite controversy . first and two thing represent spoiler to come and so if you haven not see this movie you might want to stop reading now . second and if you have see the movie only once and be scratch your head and youre not alone . here what happen represent han ki ( jae hyeon jo ) and a street tough pimp walk along in a south korean city spy this very pretty and privilege college girl and sun hwa ( win seo ) and sit on a bench wait for her boyfriend . the girl be everything han ki desire . he sit down next to her . she pretend not to notice him while she talk on her cell phone to her boyfriend . when she do deign to notice him ( and his desire for her ) she shirk back in horror at his dirty and low class presumption and get up . her boyfriend arrives while she throw ugly glance at han ki . han ki can not take it anymore and grab her and forcefully kiss her a the boyfriend beat him about the head . some soldier arrive on the scene and beat the tar out of han ki . a a parting gesture and pretty girl spit on han ki a he be hold by the soldier . that the setup . it the kind of setup that cry out for revenge or at least a comeuppance and which be what i expect . or perhaps pretty college girl and the bad guy will find true love and overcome their social difference . what actually happen be beyond expectation in a way that be likely to stun and totally engage the viewer . pretty girl be at a book store . she compromise herself ( in the viewer eye ) by tear a page out of an art book and put it in her purse . this can be see a the fatal moral flaw that lead to her degeneration . han ki see this . ( he have be follow her . ) he be play out a trap . near her on the book display be a fat wallet . pretty college girl grab it and look both way and and put it in her purse . this be the fatal moral flaw lead to entrapment and a descent into hell . she hurry to the bathroom and in the stall open the wallet and take out the money . meanwhile the guy who lose the wallet be tell ( presumably by the bad guy ) that she have the wallet and be in the bathroom . by the time he get there she be go . he chase after her and finally catch her . he rough her up and call her a pickpocket and and then force her to go to a loan shark and sign an agreement ( with her body a collateral ) for money that he say be in the wallet . this might be call the turn a the setup take on a startling twist . next sun hwa be force into prostitution by han ki she make some feeble attempt to get away and but mysteriously have nowhere to go it seem and and anyway be too afraid to run . she realize that she be go to lose her 21 year old virginity so she beg her captor to let her lose it to her boyfriend . han ki and his fellow thug mysteriously oblige . however and the boyfriend be confuse and doesn not get the job do . they pull him out of the car and slap him around and dump him and and sun hwa be back at the showcase on the street . through a two way mirror han ki watch her lose her virginity to a forceful client . question number one represent why doesn not han ki ever speak . question number two represent why do he watch her behind the two way mirror instead of take her himself . the answer come later in the film when we do hear him speak for the first time . his voice be a high shriek . guess what his unique problem be . and then come the resolution . yes and this be a love story of sort and yes they do fall in love in a way that be debase and seemingly fat . he a pimp and she now a prostitute . this work out since he be able to vicariously experience her sexually and she be able to thereby serve the man she love . and together they can make a living . there be also a supernatural element in the film that suggest that the story be part wish fulfillment fantasy by han ki . his ability to beat up the other guy and survive knife wound fairly begs credulity . during the course of the film he lose enough blood to supply a small hospital . and the scene where both he and sun hwa appear together on the beach a if by magic be more mystical than realistic . this be a haunting film do without any look back or any compromise with the sensibility of viewer . director ki duk kim message seem to be that animal passion will win out in the end and and that human be and despite the facade they put on and just animal do animal like thing in the human jungle and and deliverance come only when one realize his or her nature and give into it . ki duk kim make u identify with the bad guy and feel that he and pretty girl be no bad or no good than anyone else . in short i find this movie disturb like something from and say and novelist cormac mccarthy . i be think especially of his novel and child of god . that title be ironic in the sense that his anti heroic protagonist really be and whatever we may say or think and or however bestial his behavior and a child of god and while ki duk kim title bad guy ( nabbeun namja ) be also ironic in the sense that han ki be by societal standard certainly a bad guy and but by naturalistic ( or cosmic ) standard no good or bad than the pretty college girl . bottom line represent see this excellent and deeply troubling film at your own risk .