Between 1965 and 1966, at least 500,000 people were killed in Indonesia during a political purge.
A top-secret CIA report stated that the mass killings “rank as one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century, along with the Soviet purges of the 1930s, the Nazi mass murders during the Second World War, and the Maoist bloodbath of the early 1950s.”
Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary, The Act of Killing, follows Anwar Congo, a feared executioner of a death squad that killed hundreds during the purge of suspected “communists.”
Anwar alone is suspected to have murdered at least a 1,000 people.
Anwar and his associates never answered for their crimes. On the contrary, they are hailed as heroes and serve as role models.
Recreating tragedy as beauty
Oppenheimer’s documentary follows these men as they voluntarily and cheerfully accept the mandate of recreating their horrific murders. Most criminals would shirk from such a task.
But Anwar and his cohorts, self-described film fans, conceive, create, direct and act as victims in recreations of their killings.
And therein lays twin-pronged significance of the title, The Act of Killing.
Oppenheimer intended to have the killers confront their crimes and reckon with their horrific acts. Instead, most of them glorify their actions.
His frankly incredible gambit gives birth to one of the most powerful, haunting, harrowing, surreal and deeply moving documentaries of all time.
It is infuriating, appalling, yet impossible to look away from.
While viewing the events unfold on screen with a combination of indignation and interest, one hopes that the chest-thumping pride of Anwar and his associates is merely a façade. That they feel regret or remorse.
Both in life and film, we crave catharsis. But these men are celebrated and glorified murderers.
Remorse doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.
In one scene, Anwar demonstrates with boundless pride and delight how he ‘pioneered’ a new strangulation technique, a more efficient and bloodless form of execution.
In another, a TV personality congratulates Anwar for his efficiency.
The entire movie is akin to a disturbing fever dream.
It brings to light the confounding banality of evil and lays bare the cruel, black heart of humanity – a chilling exploration into the fractured psyche of mass murderers.
There are a couple of moments that will eternally be seared into my consciousness.
One of them sees a few of the killers reminiscing about raping women before executing them
“If they’re pretty, I’d rape them all. Especially if you get one who’s only 14 years old. Delicious,” one of them says as the others mime molesting the girl.
But the film’s most powerful moment, and perhaps one of the greatest cinematic moments of the 21st century, comes in its dénouement.
I won’t reveal what it is, but I will say that the sequence is a glowing testament to the efficacy of documentary filmmaking and the power of film.
And more broadly, it is one of the finest film endings of all time as far as I’m concerned.
I will never watch The Act of Killing again. I will never have to as well, because it will forever be embedded in my psyche.
“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” - Voltaire
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