The Act of Killing
2012 · Film · documentary · 159 min
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
After befriending documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various American film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia's 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.
26 positive3 neutralfrom 29 commenters
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Spot on. There's something about his approach to documentaries that really resonates with me. I'll admit I'm not super well-versed in documentaries so maybe his style isn't that unique, but I suspect it is. The only other film that's had the same effect on me as a Herzog documentary was Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing. I would also highly recommend Herzog's early film, Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) which shows he had the magic very early in his career.
It's sort of mind-blowing to see 1940s being repeated. Of course both times the victim group were viewed as sub-human/barbaric "other"... Before someone yells "Godwin!", read the Wikipedia page about that law, Godwin himself said it's fine to mention Nazis when it's actually a comparable thing.
If you have 3 hours, there's a documentary you can watch, about a man who was part of a government-sanctioned killsquad to kill a lot of "communists" in 1960's Indonesia: The Act of Killing (available at e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TDeEObjR9Q ).
It's sort of understandable why the defenders of the genocide have to keep defending it. Stopping doing so today would mean admitting that until yesterday you've been defending utter inhumanity.
A review:
> Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing is a challenging documentary. It is not only difficult to watch, but it also probes into one of the most grotesque aspects of human nature: the capacity for self-delusion in the face of horrific atrocities. This isn’t a film about history, facts, or statistics; it’s about the memories of the men who killed, the stories they tell themselves, and how they continue to live with the horrors they’ve inflicted on others. The film’s power lies in its ability to take the viewer beyond a surface-level understanding of evil and into the psychological abyss of those who have committed atrocities—and seemingly moved on with their lives.
From: https://docthisway.com/2024/09/23/the-act-of-killing-review/
The Act of Killing is near the top of my list of underappreciated films. Permanently haunting.
If you have 3 hours, there's a documentary you can watch, about a man who was sanctioned by the government to kill a lot of "communists" in 1960's Indonesia: The Act of Killing (available at e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TDeEObjR9Q ).
It's sort of understandable why the defenders of the genocide have to keep defending it. Stopping doing so today would mean admitting that until yesterday you've been defending utter inhumanity.
A review:
> Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing is a challenging documentary. It is not only difficult to watch, but it also probes into one of the most grotesque aspects of human nature: the capacity for self-delusion in the face of horrific atrocities. This isn’t a film about history, facts, or statistics; it’s about the memories of the men who killed, the stories they tell themselves, and how they continue to live with the horrors they’ve inflicted on others. The film’s power lies in its ability to take the viewer beyond a surface-level understanding of evil and into the psychological abyss of those who have committed atrocities—and seemingly moved on with their lives.
From: https://docthisway.com/2024/09/23/the-act-of-killing-review/
Feels like in the West the only Indonesian movie that got popular is The Raid, which had a Welsh director anyway. And, uh, The Act of Killing which was also made by a Brit.
The "virtual realities" people construct to deny actual reality is incredible. Like Alex Jones spouting stuff that those grieving parents are paid actors. Anything rather than accept the cold truth. At least I partially hope he believes his own stories, because if he knew he was just screaming lies about dead children into people's ears to earn money, then he's a psycopath (obviously that's also a possibility).
I think people invent those realities so they can say their actions are moral and good, and in their reality, for example the Sandy Hook parents are the bad guys because they are part of a conspiracy to take Americans' guns.
If anyone has 2h30m of free time, a good example of a man creating his own reality (and having it crumble bit by bit) is the subject of the documentary The Act of Killing, someone who murdered thousands of people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kJZb2Q1NmE
The director convinced him and his friends to make a movie about their actions (which they proudly boast about anyway), and one scene in the movie has the song "Born Free", "angels" dancing, and the killer being thanked by his "victims", for saving their souls from Communism and sending them to heaven by killing them...
In the documentary (in the form of cinéma vérité) The Act of Killing (1), the director learnt about "anti-communist" massacres in 1965 Indonesia, which was sanctioned by a regime whose successors were still in power in the modern times. He compared the atmosphere of the country as if he came to Germany 40 years after WW2, but with the Nazis having won it. He talks to some of the killers, and he found them not even regretful, but boastful - throughout the documentary, he learns that if they admitted they were wrong, they'd be having to admit to themselves that they murdered a lot of innocent people, so they'd rather construct a fantasy world where they're the good guys.
There's even a musical segment of the documentary (he convinced the people to reimagine their doings in the style of 50's Hollywood movies they loved) where actors playing the victims thank the killers for saving them from godlessness and sending them to heaven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ta9To14yw
I wonder how many of the genocide-defenders and genocide-enablers (not to mention genocide-executioners) will have similar PTSD...
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kJZb2Q1NmE
The movie The Act of Killing is about this time in Indonesia. Really a tough watch, but I recommend that movie for everybody... once.
The documentary the Act of Killing [1] follows a man who was a regime-sanctioned killer of "communists" in Indonesia. Watching interviews with the director, he talks about how after someone's killed a couple of people, refusing to do more means admitting that the previous kills he's done are something wrong/terrible.
The director helps reveal what's inside the killer's mind by suggesting to him to make a movie of his experiences. In one scene [2], we're at a lush waterfall, we see angels dancing and the victims of the killers thank him for freeing them from communistic godlessness and sending them to heaven, with the song "Born Free" playing in the background...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CfG-VmDyjE
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-ta9To14yw
Obligatory plug for The Act of Killing, an absolutely surreal documentary about the Indonesian mass killings and what happened to the PKI after independence. Basically, they get some of the perps of mass murder to re-enact their crimes on camera.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing
I have watched the Fog of War so many times.
It is just hard for me to rate the King of Kong or American Movie against the Fog of War though. Those are my top 3.
I will have to give the The Act of Killing a go.
No "The Act of Killing"?
It's an incredible documentary (of the cinéma vérité kind) of how people can delude themselves, like deluding how personally killing thousands of people is a thing they need to celebrate:
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/30/the-act-of-killing-review
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/sep/14/act-of-killing-review
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-act-of-killing-2013
https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-the-act-of-killing-is-a-constantly-astounding-terrifying-masterpiece-95924/
And the director's own thoughts: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/20/joshua-oppenheimer-act-of-killing
Huh, suddenly I can see a relevance to recent events...
> Francis Ford Coppola’s name being on the artwork even though he had nothing to do with the film.
Sounds like a strange take. From [1]:
> Koyaanisqatsi opens with the words “Presented by Francis Ford Coppola.” This simple endorsement by one of cinema’s most renowned directors solidified the film’s reputation and propelled it into movie theaters around the world.
Not sure if FFC gave them money (I guess yes since he's credited as executive producer), even without money, his name would've been enough to open a lot of doors.
Reminds of how Werner Herzog got involved in "The Act of Killing" [2], watching an 8-minute excerpt at breakfast was enough.
[1] https://culturacolectiva.com/en/movies/francis-ford-coppolas-name-helped-koyaanisqatsi/
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=87&v=LLQxVy7R9qo
Tangentially related, this reminded me of a documentary film on mass killings in Indonesia titled "The Act of Killing": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing. It is an excellent film.
Basically it comprises interviews of gangsters who were recruited by the government to conduct mass executions of undesirable people, and the subjects describe some reasons for which the work was tasked to organized crime rather than to official government employees.
I also recommend the documentary The Act of Killing about this topic (Academy Award winner).
Come and See remains the most horrific film I've seen. Critically important how it shows the brutality of that war.
The Act of Killing is the most brutal documentary I've seen and in fact could not finish it. On Indonesia's executioners of communists.
For a take on the Cambodian travesty see The Killing Fields.
For a great (if that's a word for it) documentary about the banality of evil, The Act of Killing features actual government-sanctioned mass murderers feeling proud about what they did. A review: http://archive.pov.org/theactofkilling/film-description/
> Hair-raising sixteenth-century reports emphasize the tests’ control arms and societal benefit.
not uncommon in our present that scientists engage in such things. Ethically there is no difference in this to today's psychologists and MD's working on enhanced interrogation techniques. The type of people employed by CCP in Uyghurs camps, ICE facilities, or US black sites (and US prisons) that are routinely used for torture.
Compared to what we do today the content in this story is just a side-course to a whole menu of evil. The real shocker is that every one of us is capable[3] of these kind of acts (whether people recognize that ability inside themselves or not)
___
[0] The Role of Medical Professionals in Detention and Interrogation Operations https://detaineetaskforce.org/pdf/Chapter-6_Role-of-Medical-Professionals.pdf
[1] "Enhanced" interrogation of detainees: do psychologists and psychiatrists participate? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2561033/
[2] Mental Health Professionals in the “Enhanced” Interrogation Room https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/mental-health-professionals-enhanced-interrogation-room
[3] The Act of Killing https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/
“The act of killing“ is a truely impressive and disturbing movie!
An amazing documentary on the subject is “The Act of Killing” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing) which challenges former death-squad leaders to reenact their mass killings (of supposed communists...)
Unclear is an understatement. The Suharto-government produced "G30S/PKI" is still broadcasted every September 30th to sustain the propaganda/story that justified the mass killings.
What recently (a few years ago) came up was the US had a diplomatic wire that had a list of the dated a few days/weeks before the incident. It is suspected that this list was initial "hit-list".
"The US Embassy supplied the army with a list of thousands of PKI cadres for targeting."
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/news-events/all-stories/indonesia-30-september-1965-mystery-continues
For a modern documentary that's definitely very chilling about the "killers" of those mass killings, check out The Act of Killing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing
The Act of Killing is an incredibly interesting/disturbing documentary about this in Indonesia.
Have you seen The Act of Killing[1]?
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
In Indonesia in the 60s several hundred thousands people categorized as communists were deported, tortured killed and often massacred (with the active support of the USA). Nobody was punished for that or asked for repentance, ever.
There is a documentary were some old guys tell and show, while laughing, how they throated children, raped women, etc. They're happy old people still boasting about their horrible crimes 55 years later.
Almost nobody knows about this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_mass_killings_of_1965%E2%80%9366
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing
I've never been in combat and have had very little exposure to physical violence, but I stopped being able to watch war movies and even many action moves without feeling terrible at some point in college[1]. Most violent war/action movies and shows do their best to dehumanize the anonymous men that the "good guys" slaughter, but for whatever reason it stopped working on me, and I can't/don't want to turn back on the part of me that, when I was younger, was so casually capable of such dehumanization. (I'm aware that the characters are often fictional, but unless you think you'd be a fan of watching someone depict a torture or rape, it doesn't much affect the logic I'm using).
(There are also plenty of exceptions, where the violence isn't trivialized and the horror is central to the point; Watching a movie like _The Act of Killing_ is far from escapism)
> I do not understand how people watch that stuff.
Frankly, most people have a grossly stunted sense of empathy, with exceptions only for those things that they have firsthand life experience with. An instructive contrast is media depictions of sexual violence against women: for a couple of decades, there has been a concerted effort to decry media depictions of violence against women (sexual or otherwise) that are perceived as unnecessary or trivializing. The success of these campaigns is to be lauded, but what they reveal about how empathy-bankrupt monsters most people are is sort of chilling: people en masse can be taught to play-act empathy by rote if it's drilled into their head that a particular case is no longer socially acceptable, but they don't seem to be capable (en masse) of practicing the skill of empathy itself.
For anyone who watches Game of Thrones: Compare the huge outcry against the depiction of Sansa's marital rape to _an entire season_ of infinitely more gruesome torture porn by the same perpetrator against a male victim, which included genital mutilation. Despite being a far more egregious and lengthy display of gratuitous and stomach-turning violence, the latter caused no backlash whatsoever, and is in fact still fodder for jokes about Game of Thrones-themed foods ("Theon's Flayed Sausage"), including from publications like Huffington Post which were some of the loudest complainants about how unforgivable the former scene was.
TL;DR: It's not a particularly popular opinion, but most people are far more depraved and far less capable of basic human empathy than even their own ostensible moral standards would imply. Like you, I can't _relate_ to how people watch that stuff, but I can definitely _understand_ it.
This reminds me of the excellent documentary The Act of Killing, and it's followup documentary...
Aren't the real perpetrators/instigators the developed nations (both capitalist and communist) of the period forcing random peoples to pick sides?
'The Act of Killing' is arguably the most forward-thinking documentary of the last 20 years. Heavy going, but unflinching.
That both Erol Morris and Werner Herzog executive produced after Oppenheimer made it should tell you how formally important it is.
Here's my list of 10/10 documentaries:
Biopics and Portraits:
- Kung Fu Elliot (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3228302/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Listen to Me Marlon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4145178/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Man on Wire (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1155592/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- My Winnipeg (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093842/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- A Gray State (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6794380/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1683876/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Valley Uprising (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3784160/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- You've Been Trumped (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1943873/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Environmental:
- Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3302820/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Cove (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313104/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Chasing Coral (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6333054/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Virunga (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3455224/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Crime:
- Cartel Land (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4126304/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Act of Killing (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Culture High (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778338/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4299972/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- West of Memphis (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2130321/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- How to Make Money Selling Drugs (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276962/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Fear of 13 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5083702/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Brother's Keeper (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103888/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution' (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446610/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Reflecting on Life and Death:
- Given (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4890452/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Extremis (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5538078/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Touching the Void (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379557/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Attention: A Life in Extremes (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2846628/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
Society:
- Israel vs Israel (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1753960/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- Inside Job (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1645089/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
- The Overnighters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263996/?ref_=rt_li_tt)
The Act of Killing - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/
"A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers."
It is simultaneously the most extraordinary documentary you've seen and also most chilling comment on the depths and banality of human brutality.
It's unlike anything on film: The mass murderers believe they are showing off their exploits to an appreciative audience, demonstrating to the filmmakers what they did. They go so far as to end up acting out a surreal fantasy, complete with sets and costumes, which cannot be described. But this is a serious documentary about a horrible event; it's not parody or satire. Somehow, the perpetrators of the killings reveal themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/act-of-killing-re-enacts-indonesian-massacres.html
Have you watched the film The Act of Killing?
Not directly about US involvement, the documentary "The Act of Killing" is a must-see regarding individuals who participated in these events and their motivations.
He's certainly a talented film-maker with a distinctive voice. But his "rogue adventurer" persona is something he has willingly cultivated, which has resulted in a cult-of-personality fanbase and fanboy critics. Which is unfair, because he does actually make some really original films. So it's the Kinski stories (which, agree, were not invented - but certainly were myth-making exaggerations) and the overly delicate "being a solider of cinema" line (talked about in Herzog on Herzog) that's in flagrante delicto in terms of this savvy personal brand building.
Same goes for his "unromantic" view of the world. Yes, lovely, you're unsentimental about human nature and the indifference of the universe. But why do you have to impose yourself on the audio track and personally remind us? Do you realise you're just coming off a rung above the "dark guy" in high school, sitting in the cafeteria scribbling pentagrams into a moleskin? For me, his best films are the ones he remains unseen and unheard.
As an aside, I think Joshua Oppenheimer's 'The Act of Killing' must have put the wind up Morris and Herzog when they first saw it (to be fair, they later signed on as executive producers). But that, by far, is the most innovative and original documentary for many years. Definitely check it out if you're a fan of Herzog.
I think a great documentary that explores this territory (but within the context of Indonesia) is The Act of Killing [1]. It can be hard to watch because it lays bare the banality of "evil". No cackling madmen or volcano fortresses, just ordinary-seeming people who committed mass murder while still believing themselves to be just.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing
Watch "The Act of Killing" and you'll know why this country is resistant to advice and doomed.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605
Indonesia is extremely corrupt, and as he points out the president has very little power.
It's well worth watching the film "the act of killing", though also incredibly depressing.
The best we could hope for is international pressure from other countries, especially it's neighbours.
Most important is that consumers try and avoid products that use palm oil unless ethically sourced (sorry, but no Nutella, Ferrero Rosche etc).
Don't miss "The Act of Killing", a documentary mentioned in the article. It's both brilliantly creative and horribly chilling. Certainly you've never seen anything like it.
In the mid-1960s 500,000 to a million Indonesians were massacred when Suharto seized power (reputedly with U.S. acquiescence or support). The directors of the documentary persuaded some leaders of the massacre not only to proudly discuss their acts on camera, but to stage and re-enact them, sometimes in interpretive fashion (musicals, surreal sets, etc.), thinking they were the protagonists of a film.