The Act of Killing (2012)

While walking out of the theater, the two girls behind me were discussing how their friend had been so traumatized by this movie (and something about possibly bringing her kids to see it?) she warned them not to go. Everyone coming out of this was clearly stunned; it is a hard film to stomach. In 1965, Indonesia's elected government was overthrown by the military, ushering in nearly three decades of dictatorship. In the aftermath of the coup, gangsters and paramilitaries exacted a genocidal reign of terror upon the communist party, killing 2.5 million people. In The Act of Killing, director Joshua Oppenheimer hands cameras to the men responsible, and tells them to direct movies about their "achievements" in whatever styles they like. Anwar Congo, one of the big-time gangsters, loves Hollywood movies, and decides to put together a musical gangster historical epic about his proud involvement in the termination of the commies. Perhaps what is most frightening is that no one has ever been held accountable for these crimes. The paramilitaries are celebrated and revered at every level of society, even the Vice President and MPs openly celebrate the "work" of the gangsters. It is not so much about the killings themselves, but the impunity which surrounds them. Most of the film crew had to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal attacks. The film is not perfect, though. We actually do not get to see very much of the movies that the killers make, instead it is mostly documenting their work making them. Another problem is that Oppenheimer injects himself into one key scene in a rather ham-in-fist manner. This is a flawed work, but a very important one.