The violence in this film, though infrequent, is disturbing and emotionally intense.
A central theme of the movie is the intentional infliction of torture. Many characters in the film suffer horrendous fates in a manner deliberately intended to inflict emotional and spiritual distress on other characters, and by proxy, the audience.
The opening shot of the film shows two severed heads on a fence. Multiple characters are shown being tortured to death by having boiling water splashed in their faces and dripped slowly over the bodies. Their raw, swollen skin is shown as their bodies are taken away. It is mentioned that people were tortured in this manner for over a month before they died.
Three characters are crucified on a rocky shore in a manner that ensures they drown slowly (one of them after four days).Their bodies are shown awash in the ocean, half-hanging off crosses, and later being burnt on pyres.
Multiple other scenes depict characters being deliberately drowned and burnt alive.
A man is suddenly and unexpectedly beheaded in plain view. While some bloodshed is visible, the details of the sword's impact are obscured by the camera angle. We see the head rolling across the ground, and there are multiple shots of the headless body being dragged away, leaving a long bloodstain.
Multiple characters are shown being tortured by being bound, their scalp cut, and hung upside down with their heads sticking through a small hole into a pit of putrid offal.
A man's dead body is shown being cremated.