Blind Shaft

Featuring a bleak and unflinching gaze at the darker recesses of human nature, Blind Shaft (2003) zeroes in on the sordid trade of two Chinese con men who profit from staging fatal accidents in the mines. Their modus operandi—luring unsuspecting workers into fatal "accidents" and blackmailing mine owners—hits a moral snag when one of the duo starts to question the ethics of their lucrative but soul-crushing game. Director Kim Ki-duk's unsettling portrait of corruption and conscience in the underbelly of industrial China is a stark and unyielding critique of a society where life is cheap and profit paramount.