The Net is a 2016 film from South Korea directed by Kim Ki-duk.
Nam Chul-woo is a humble North Korean fisherman who lives in a village close by the border with South Korea. This becomes a big problem for him one day when his net gets caught in the engine of his little fishing boat, the engine stalls out, and the current winds up taking him across the border. Chul-woo is stuck in some rushes, still trying to start his engine, when he is discovered by South Korean authorities.
He is taken to a detention center. There, he makes friends with the guard assigned to him, agent Jin-woo. Unfortunately for Nam he is less lucky with the inspector who interrogates him. The South Korean intelligence officer, who is not named, is absolutely convinced that Chul-woo is a spy. The inspector tortures Chul-woo, who discovers that maybe North and South Korea aren't as different as people are led to believe.
No connection to Sandra Bullock thriller The Net.
Tropes:
- Cold-Blooded Torture: In both the South Korean and North Korean detention centers, Chul-woo is beaten in attempts to get him to confess to espionage.
- Double-Meaning Title: "The net" being the fishing net that got tangled up in Chul-woo's motor, and the net of State Sec authoritarianism and paranoia that Chul-woo finds himself tangled up in. Made explicit when Chul-woo says "And now the net is around my neck."
- Downer Ending: Chul-woo, who's finally made it back to the North, goes out to cast nets again only to be told that he's not allowed on the river anymore. He snaps, screams that the boat is the only way he can provide for his family, and goes out fishing anyway. The North Korean guards shoot and kill him.
- Fan Disservice: A lovely young woman clad in nothing but a red negligee—who happens to be a prostitute that has run screaming out of a brothel, chased by two thugs. Chul-woo saves her from a beating.
- Gory Discretion Shot: The inspector's beating of Chul-woo is not shown. The inspector picks up a glass ashtray and closes the blinds. Cut to Chul-woo, who was seated, now on the floor of the interrogation room, as the inspector holds an ashtray dripping with blood.
- The Horseshoe Effect: The security services of North and South Korea are indistinguishable from each other in behavior. They both arrest Chul-woo, handcuff him, and take him to little interrogation rooms where he is beaten. Both interrogators demand that Chul-woo write down his story, multiple times.
- Match Cut: Chul-woo, confined in a little bedroom in the detention center, pulls out a photo of his family and looks at it. Cut to Jin-woo, holding his phone in the same manner, looking at the security camera video feed of Chul-woo in the bedroom.
- No Name Given: The inspector who tortures Chul-woo in South Korea is never named, nor is his counterpart who does the same when Chul-woo is returned to the north.
- Parental Sexuality Squick: The first scene has Chul-woo and his wife having sex on the floor right next to their little daughter, which, after all, is a thing that happens when humble peasants live in one-room shacks. The daughter pulls her blanket over her head.
- P.O.V. Cam: When Chul-woo finally opens his eyes in Seoul, after keeping them closed for quite a long time. The camera shows his view swiveling around as he goggles at the luxuries available in a South Korean shopping area.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Agent Jin-woo, the only person in the South Korean security services who isn't either a fascist torturer or a more ordinary asshole. Jin-woo trusts Chul-woo and tries to prevail on his superiors to send Chul-woo home.
- Separated by a Common Language: Chul-woo's accent marks him out as from the North, which the South Korean guards notice as soon as he starts talking.
- Shower of Angst: As soon as Chul-woo is brought to the South Korean detention center, his captors demand that he strip off his clothes and take a shower. Cut to Chul-woo in the shower, sitting on the floor curled up in a fetal position.
- Spy Speak: Chul-woo is decent and honorable, but not very smart. An actual North Korean spy in the detention center breaks away from his captors, tells Chul-woo that his daughter lives in Seoul, and gives Chul-woo a strangely specific message to deliver to her: "Seven azaleas bloom in May. Give three to the swallow, give two to the deer, and give two to the flounder." And the "daughter" is supposedly named Azalea! It's obviously a coded message but poor dumb Chul-woo does in fact deliver the message to "Azalea". It turns out to be some sort of distress signal warning the spy network to scatter. All of this makes Chul-woo look more suspicious to the authorities.
- Villainous Breakdown: The South Korean inspector, and torturer, is getting bawled out over bungling the Chul-woo case. He's then confronted with a news story in that day's paper showing that his previous spy case was bogus; the spy he supposedly caught was convicted on the basis of forged evidence. The inspector has a complete breakdown, loudly singing the Korean national anthem while weeping.
