The Act of Killing. The name itself is thought provoking. First, I'll admit I had no idea this film existed until I saw that title in the list of Oscar nominees and I had to know what it was. Not only that but the title hits you after seeing the film itself as the perfect description for what lies within. Each character is as much an actor as they are perpetrators of war crimes. The premise is an interesting twist on documentary technique. Joshua Oppenheimer asked mass murderers turned celebrities to make a movie based on the killings they did during the regime change in Indonesia in 1965. The majority of the film is centered in Northern Sumatra, where Anwar Congo takes us through his version of the story.
Oppenheimer doesn't stop there either. He gathers as many of these murderers as he can, all members of the death squad, to tell their versions of the story. This film is, not to be too politically charged, what I thought Zero Dark Thirty should have been. In fact it is what I thought it was when I went into the theater. Only afterward was I disappointed by how much it played like an extended episode of CSI. However, back to Oppenheimer's masterpiece, I believe this film carries the kind of stark reality that we need in our modern world. We are currently more connected than ever before to every person on the planet. Now is the time to look at our pasts and realize that something has to be done in order to move on to a more unified future, one that we are already beginning to experience. Labels are coming off and the victims of decades of hate and discrimination are finally calling out for reparations. So much so that the term "social justice" is almost always called to mind with a bad aftertaste. Are we too sensitive about our pasts? Are we just trying to avoid talking about it because of the horror that is associated with it? How can we come to any kind of agreement where perpetrator and victim can live together?
I believe this film has pointed out a very deep theme concerning all of mankind. We love violence. Gladiatorial combat, Aztec games, Sports, and all forms of modern media contain gratuitous amounts of violence. This fascination starts at a young age with boys especially; everyone plays grand theft auto and watches Saving Private Ryan by 4th grade. Is this healthy? Surely it can;t be, but at the same time so many of those boys and girls grow up to be perfect members of society. The violence doesn't seem to affect them and this is painfully apparent in The Act of Killing as the perpetrators are willing to show us what they did and they even boast about it in many instances. The film is just shy of two hours and they are well worth the time as every minute builds upon the last to bring us to tears as the children and friends of former victims are recruited to reenact scenes that show in stark detail how their loved ones were tortured and killed as well as glimpses into the souls of men who are not simply monsters but plain old human beings that found themselves in a dire situation that they could take advantage of.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD5oMxbMcHM
