Oppenheimer, Joshua, dir. The Act of Killing

Documentary about the perpetrators of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66. After a failed coup against the Suharto regime, about one million people were murdered because they were presumed to be communists, leftists, and ethic Chinese, the groups blamed for the coup. The perpetrators were never put on trial and their leaders stayed in power. Oppenheimer seeks to portray their role in current Indonesian society. He invites the former leaders of death squads to tell their own story and reenact their killings in a cinematic style of their choice, like film noir and musical. Although many of the perpetrators boast about their actions, protagonist Anwar Congo also starts to reflect on what he has done. The film was widely acclaimed and has won many prizes, most notably a BAFTA. It also received criticism for giving space to the perpetrators to glorify their deeds and using inappropriate aesthetics to portray mass murder. It has received a significant amount of scholarly attention and quickly became a key “text” for the field of perpetrator studies.

Oppenheimer, Joshua, dir. The Act of Killing. Co-directed by Christine Cynn and Anonymous. Copenhagen: Det Danske Filminstitut, 2012.