The Act of Killing

2/18/2017

The synopsis is available elsewhere and I have no idea how to review a film like this so here are a few simple lines: I have never seen anything remotely like this and would go as far as to say that it is one of the most honest portrayals of several aspects of the human psyche I have ever experienced in any medium. It's not a pleasant film but I can't give it any less than full marks for its bravery, arrogance and honesty when dealing with an uncomfortable aspect of our species. Joshua Oppenheimer (dir.) understands the social norms of his subjects' environment and also their own egos and greed, shows us so that we also understand and then uses all he has learned to get them to openly reveal all directly to the audience, pretty much by luring them. It's obvious that with the backsto

8/22/2026

I didn't really know where to start with this uniquely constructed documentary. The director has assembled a collection of brutes like the enigmatic Anwar Congo and an whole slew of other paramilitary leaders from Indonesia's recent past, and asked them to recreate some of their more murderous scenarios as if they were filming an edition of "Glee"! There are serious conversations with some of the warlords responsible for unspeakable atrocities on both a mass and an individual scale - which does beg a question as to why these people aren't already behind bars; there are rehearsals for their scenes of torture and violence and there are even musical pieces that could have featured in a Ziegfeld folly. These re-enactments serve as a fascinating conduit for the telling of a story of state-spons