Plot: In 1965 the Indonesian government was overthrown by
the military. Anybody opposed to the military dictatorship could be accused of
being a communist: union members, landless farmers, intellectuals, and the
ethnic Chinese. In less than a year, and with the direct aid of Western
governments, over 1 million "communist" were murdered. The army used
paramilitaries and gangsters to carry out the killings. These men have been in
power/and have persecuted their opponents/ ever since. When we met the killers,
they proudly told us stories about what they did. To understand why, we asked
them to create scenes about the killings in whatever ways they wished. This
film follows that process, and documents its consequences.
My Review and Thoughts:
First off if you know me I love a good documentary, the more
reality that builds in the process of the film, the better the subject unfolds.
The director Joshua Oppenheimer has a talent with capturing great quality of
history and turning the story into a deep reality based process that the viewer
can believe; that the story is real. The film makes you feel the characters,
the surroundings and most all the history that is haunting and painful, because
it's created so we'll.
From the ocean of the opening, from a comment by Voltaire: “It
is forbidden to kill. Therefore, all murderers are punished, unless they kill
in large numbers, and to the sound of trumpets." This documentary truly
changed my life, truly gave me an experience of a visionary masterpiece; if I
should say that, because of the subject matter. I had in all honesty felt the
reality of this documentary. I had no knowledge of it until I looked at one of
my fellow movie friend’s choices of films of the year and this was on it.
I asked Rob Sibley was it good, should I give it a go and he
said "it's the best documentary and that it will change your life",
and boy was he right. I'm so glad I ordered this film. I'm so glad I own this
film, because it's something like I've never seen before, experienced before
and most of all, it touched on all the emotions, the heart, the mind, the
attitude and the nature leaping inside my very soul.
You picture the characters, the places, and the moments. I
am a huge fan of crime history and this plays out perfect and flawless on the
screen of a criminal history.
Oppenheimer knows how to capture perfect moments of tension
and suspense and a tear jerking unbelievable truth. The deep reenactments, work
out flawless, playing out from the very first story and becomes just priceless.
Holds strong and holds nothing back.
The process, the ordeal of going through moments detailed in
an atmosphere from the written history and the thoughts and words of those
involved create a vivid unrelenting picture; deep inside the viewer’s mind.
I felt deeply enthralled with this film. It made me feel
uncomfortable at times, and somewhat horribly giddy. It made me in away
remember others pain, history and surprisingly a surreal beauty.
Truly a brutal realization, shockingly asinine as you hear
these killers who are wealthy and political and apart of the main system of
Indonesia today describe their ways of murdering innocent people as if it was
nothing.
One-shot truly is atmospherically haunting. Anwar one of the
murderers talk about how they use to corral people in and beat them to death,
but there was so much blood, because of the beatings that he created his own
little system. He demonstrated how he would wrap a wire, sort of like a coat
hanger around a pipe structure and then would wrap it around the person’s neck
and then pull and choke them to death, kind of like a garrote.
Joseph creates a flawless atmosphere of the past, the grand
story telling of this mass murder. This sad historical reality is thought
provoking, mind numbing and it pulls at your heartstrings. The beauty of this
is it's mixed with many filmed moments of drama, history, reality and so much
more that it creates its own little world of amazement.
The past is written in many wonderful ways but the greatest
is by the tongues who lived it and that's what this film details. The
back-story to the event in itself, flows like a great memory in history and yet
mixes with a sense of horrible tragedy as you hear the emotions, the ordeals,
the horror's that people went through. I in honesty shed some tears at the
horrible understanding and graphic thick reality that is filmed.
The created quality of this documentary is a perfect
masterpiece of a haunting wonderment. Werner Herzog and Errol Morris present
The Act of Killing, to the world. The film is flawlessly created and directed
by Joseph Oppenheimer.
What's so haunting is that these people, are celebrated as
heroes and yet they were death squad leaders. They created a true genocide.
They killed at will and yet it doesn't faze them that they brutalized, murdered
and exterminated people.
If you have ever wondered what it would be like for actual
war criminals to act out their own crimes such as the Nazi SS members; to say
to them film what you did to the people, that's what this details. It showcases
these executioners, these genocide, these mass murderers; laugh and giggle and
dance and go about their daily lives.
I did enjoy how Anwar, one of the main focal persons of the
movie, a past executioner, a monster mentions how he sometimes has nightmares
while he sleeps. He believes it's because he would watch each one of them die.
Anwar said he would drink, smoke marijuana, get high in trying to forget and so
it shows you, he has a little bit of a conscience.
I think what is so shockingly brutal about this documentary
is not only witnessing these mass murderers talking, but during the reenacting,
watching little children actually crying. They scare the living crap out of
them. They actually make these children believe they're going to be killed
during the reenactment. You the viewer know that it’s fake, in what they’re
doing, but these children are so frightened and lost in the moment.
During the reenactments especially the village scene, I
can't help but think what the real people went through. The terror they had,
right before they died. The shocking brutality that they went through, the
suffering and pain witnessing their children killed, loved ones killed, it's
truly a shockingly horrible moment and I can only think of it as true reality.
You almost want to scream and yell and hunt these bastards
down as they still live. They are able to shop in the mall and go around their
very neighborhoods and so on. They are Kings and Heroes and idols. There is no
justification for what they did, no matter if they state, they were only
following what they were told to do. There is a time in your life when you say
no, even if it cost your own life. There are moments where the past gangsters
are talking out what they did to innocent people. They shoved wood up the anus
until they died, chopped off their heads, hung them, beat them to death,
strangled them with wire, burned them alive on and on, smashed their head in,
crushed their neck, tortured them, shot them, drowned them, raped them to
death.
I don't know how anyone could live with themselves. I don't
know how anyone that takes another human being's life can live with themselves.
It's truly shocking to know that there are people in this world, especially
these few in this documentary can live their lives with their wife's and
children and go about their daily routine knowing they were part of a genocide.
Knowing they murdered millions. I truly cannot fathom how they can exist, for
they are heartless, they are true monsters and they are shockingly truthful in
what they did. To them it's like telling a story, but to us the viewer, it's
the very gates of hell.
The moment when Anwar witnesses the torture, where he is
acting the part as one of the victims. Where he brings his grandchildren in and
then they leave. When he watches the screen. I do believe in all honesty, 100%
he realizes what he did and the horror he caused. The next shot of him visiting
the killing room is possibly one of the most emotionally charged, tense moments
I have ever seen filmed. The moment weighs heavy on him as he starts gagging,
wrenching, spitting, and crying. The moment he realizes the truth. And even at
that time that he grasped the evil, the horror, of what he did, he still tries
to justify saying, he had no choice, you always ultimately have a choice. Just
because someone was German didn't mean they had to join the Nazi party. Just
because you’re an American military officer doesn't mean you have to join in on
the torture of innocent individuals in Guantánamo Bay. You don't have to become
a terrorist just because your family is.
You have a historical crime setting and a truly disturbing
picture splashed with the likes of a biography and a twist of fictional images
told through the likes of the murderers themselves. The whole film is a great
watch, it comes together as a truly stand out film that has so much, for it is
a true one of a kind achievement. I feel the back story of this mass murder and
the reality that these killers are treated like idols and walk freely and
knowing they murdered is a true horror movie. Simply put this documentary has
now become part of history. The reality is a masterpiece that creates its own
little world. The deep appeal in the real murderers is something few films has
ever captured or even begin to create.
A great film with a haunting true story and characters you
will never forget. Truly a must see film for anyone who loves, brilliant
filmmaking, thought provoking subject matter, history and documentary.