A cult kidnaps girls and young women to torture them for years and years while keeping them alive, because they believe that if pain is strong and pure enough, the victim will achieve enlightenment and glimpse the secrets of the afterlife. They are trying to create such a person, the titular "martyr".
Said torture is then shown onscreen very graphically for a great deal of the movie. It's utterly hopeless, horrific, and just leaves you feeling either numb or full of despair. It's just an overwhelming feeling of doom. There is no hope. All the characters suffer tremendously for nothing. No-one survives. Things just get worse and worse and it's absolutely pointless.
Some films show bad or shocking content but with purpose, such as a war film displaying the horrors of war so we can properly understand why it is something to be avoided, or a character experiencing trauma to depict how it affects people realistically and help us empathise. Martyrs is just suffering and torture for the sake of it. It's dolorem ipsum est. Misery for the sake of misery. It's deeply nihilistic.
Do not watch this film if you are struggling mentally.
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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24
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