"the act of killing" (doc on the mass murders of indonesian "comunists")

[Sasha]

Seeing this movie again, essential viewing I think, never has the banality of evil been more gut wretching filmed;

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Act_of_Killing

[The Feral Underclass]

Yeah, it's an awesome film.

[Sasha]

saw also a bit just now of the second part, "the look of silence", also very good, less absurd but very good.
pretty cool, we had an indonesia festival at my work, besides these two movies they also showed a movie about a famous deserter from the dutch army that joined the Indonesians during the war there. they also had a Q and A with his son, pretty cool to see and get payed for it too.

[Decolonize The Left]

I strongly disliked the film. The idea of forcing the relatives of the deceased to act out the actions of their families being slaughtered is disgusting and terrible and serves no artistic purpose; on the contrary, it serves the very real purpose of reinforcing the power structure which is still in place today, whereby these self-acknowledged mass murderers roam free and maintain privileged social status.

[Antiochus]

I strongly disliked the film. The idea of forcing the relatives of the deceased to act out the actions of their families being slaughtered is disgusting and terrible and serves no artistic purpose; on the contrary, it serves the very real purpose of reinforcing the power structure which is still in place today, whereby these self-acknowledged mass murderers roam free and maintain privileged social status.

I haven't watched the film, but surely they weren't "forced"? If they did act it out, it must have been with the intent of showcasing to the world the brutal slaughter inflicted upon their relatives.

A bit off topic although pertaining to this. People like Suharto are to be watched out for. It is easy to point at him and label him a dictator (he was off course) because he was an American puppet and neo-liberal, but the question is, if he had been one of those "leftist" (with a hammer and sickle armpatch) dictators, would we still criticize him as such? Suharto raised the life expectancy, improved wages, built roads, improved education etc... all things that are usually used as excuses by tankies to defend brutal regimes they admire. Point is that we should be a bit more self-critical and a little less sanctimonious.

But I'll try to watch this film since there is so little material on this important event.

[Decolonize The Left]

I haven't watched the film, but surely they weren't "forced"? If they did act it out, it must have been with the intent of showcasing to the world the brutal slaughter inflicted upon their relatives.

You should watch the film. I can say that the film did not "showcase to the world the brutal slaughter" at all; in fact, the opposite: it aggrandized and made Hollywood heroes of the murderers, people who are to this date unpunished. And yes, the relatives of the victims were indeed "forced" to play these roles as their refusal would result in social repercussions. The murderers are social elite, well connected and without legal limitations. To refuse to take part in their bidding is to condemn oneself to suffering.

[Sasha]

The people acting where not the family of the deceased, they where the (family of) the killers/torturers, and they wherent forced, they where asked and siezed on the oportunity because they didnt feel they ever did anything wrong and where arrogant bastards still.

[adipocere]

I feel it focused too much on the individual crimes and far too little time was given to the social and political conditions behind the genocide. The movie seemed to simply peek at the subject without exploring it in any real depth because to do so would implicate far more powerful people and institutions than just a few aged mafia thugs.

It reminded me in a way of the film Hotel Rwanda in that it never flinched from the brutality but managed to strip away virtually all context and meaning.

With that said however, I still think the film is very important. I think it is a good introduction to a subject that seems to have been wholly and deliberately deleted from history.

John Pilger's documentary Death of a Nation (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vucMhKPC0ZE) should be a companion piece.

edit:

...the second part, "the look of silence", also very good, less absurd but very good.

Thanks - I didn't know about this second part.

[The Feral Underclass]

The people acting where not the family of the deceased, they where the (family of) the killers/torturers, and they wherent forced, they where asked and siezed on the oportunity because they didnt feel they ever did anything wrong and where arrogant bastards still.

They weren't the family of the killers, they were the killers themselves. Giving them the opportunity to act out their crimes meant they had to reflect upon the crimes themselves and eventually -- miraculously in my view -- feel a sense of remorse. A sensation that that they had pointedly refused to even consider at the beginning of the film.

It was a groundbreaking piece of filmmaking.

[The Feral Underclass]

I feel it focused too much on the individual crimes and far too little time was given to the social and political conditions behind the genocide.

That wasn't what the film was about though so I'm not sure if that can really be a valid criticism. You can't really criticise a film for not being an entirely different film.

The film was about the individuals and their crimes, and the way these really rather unexceptional men perpetrated these atrocities with such glee and pride. I think that's an interesting subject. This banality of evil subject has already been addressed, but it has never been addressed in this way.