„ Almost everyone showed me places where they already killed, while reenacting their murders. After counting the tenth culprit, I openly told them that they were all part of one of the biggest acts of killing in the entire history of humanity. I told them that their entire community and life has been built on this act. “Oppenheimer via zeilenkino.de
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
First off, this movie isn’t something delicate people with bad nerves will enjoy. The reason for this aren’t bloody sequences. I have to admit that movies like SAW featured way worse splatter scenes. Nevertheless, the Act of Killing succeeded in disturbing me to such an extent that I felt an uneasy hours after watching it. Why? Because this movie is not only based on true facts, it reenacts true facts, terrible events. This movie depicts the killing of countless followers of the PKI, the communist party of Indonesia, in the 60ies, reenacted by the REAL culprits who were involved in these killings then. They are confidently illustrating what they have done in front of the camera and barely show any form of regret, sorry or mercy. Some of them were extremely proud of their bloody deeds.
They proudly march through the streets, celebrated by the blind civilians for their perverted acts up to this day. The western civilization barely took notice of this stain in world history until Joshua Oppenheimer mustered up enough courage to document these events. The filmed ones didn’t know until the very end that this movie wasn’t made to glorify them like they assumed in the beginning. Being presented as criminals? No, this possibility never crossed their minds. Oppenheimer himself received several death threats after this movie. This dangerous aspect caused the majority of the film crew to staying incognito and insisting on being unmentioned in the closing credits because they were frightened. Well, understandable.
The Act of Killing is a movie you really should see. This is no walk in the park, indeed. But this documentary impressively depicts reality itself in a unique way.
Bildquelle: http://theactofkilling.com/, http://zeilenkino.de/the-act-of-killing-interview-joshua-oppenheimer
