The Act of Killing (2012)
Country: GB/DK/NOR
Technical: col 115/159m
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Cast: doc.
Synopsis:
A western film-maker interviews the perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian massacre of suspected Communists, and allows them to re-enact their atrocities as if they were acting in their own movies.
Review:
An immensely important film for Indonesia, where the 'cinema gangsters' who have since become revered founding fathers of the Pancasila youth movement (little more than a vehicle of repression in modern day Indonesia) have not only never been prosecuted for their acts under Suharto, but are encouraged to brag about them the better to perpetuate a climate of fear. We focus on one man in particular, Anwar Congo, who, for all his bravado, is clearly haunted by memories of garrottings and beheadings, and the film tells us something about the human need for punishment before redemption can take place; in that light, the surreal and generally amateurish re-enactments are a grotesque attempt at self-justification designed to repress feelings of guilt. Needless to say, it is not an easy film to watch, by its implications, and in its director's cut even a rather boring one, but the final helpless confession of remorse is worth waiting for.
Country: GB/DK/NOR
Technical: col 115/159m
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Cast: doc.
Synopsis:
A western film-maker interviews the perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian massacre of suspected Communists, and allows them to re-enact their atrocities as if they were acting in their own movies.
Review:
An immensely important film for Indonesia, where the 'cinema gangsters' who have since become revered founding fathers of the Pancasila youth movement (little more than a vehicle of repression in modern day Indonesia) have not only never been prosecuted for their acts under Suharto, but are encouraged to brag about them the better to perpetuate a climate of fear. We focus on one man in particular, Anwar Congo, who, for all his bravado, is clearly haunted by memories of garrottings and beheadings, and the film tells us something about the human need for punishment before redemption can take place; in that light, the surreal and generally amateurish re-enactments are a grotesque attempt at self-justification designed to repress feelings of guilt. Needless to say, it is not an easy film to watch, by its implications, and in its director's cut even a rather boring one, but the final helpless confession of remorse is worth waiting for.
Country: GB/DK/NOR
Technical: col 115/159m
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Cast: doc.
Synopsis:
A western film-maker interviews the perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian massacre of suspected Communists, and allows them to re-enact their atrocities as if they were acting in their own movies.
Review:
An immensely important film for Indonesia, where the 'cinema gangsters' who have since become revered founding fathers of the Pancasila youth movement (little more than a vehicle of repression in modern day Indonesia) have not only never been prosecuted for their acts under Suharto, but are encouraged to brag about them the better to perpetuate a climate of fear. We focus on one man in particular, Anwar Congo, who, for all his bravado, is clearly haunted by memories of garrottings and beheadings, and the film tells us something about the human need for punishment before redemption can take place; in that light, the surreal and generally amateurish re-enactments are a grotesque attempt at self-justification designed to repress feelings of guilt. Needless to say, it is not an easy film to watch, by its implications, and in its director's cut even a rather boring one, but the final helpless confession of remorse is worth waiting for.