THE ACT OF KILLING

The subject of Joshua Oppenheimer's fiercely compelling documentary is definitely one of the most evil and sadistic acts of genocide that I have ever seen on the silver screen.  It tells some of the stories of the Indonesian death squads of the mid 1960's who tortured and killed over one million 'communists' at the behest of the Military Dictatorship of that period.  Oppenheimer invited a couple of the lead executioners to re-enact how they went about their murderous activities, and these Hollywood-obsessed gangsters leaped at the chance of making their own movie with themselves in starring roles.

The end result is a movie about the making of their movie when  two of the most notorious of the thugs, Anwar Congo and his sidekick Herman, go back into the same areas where they annihilated most of the residents, and now get the present-day inhabitants to take part in their re-enactments. It would seem that no-one, including the petrified locals dare refuse these infamous killers anything. Now some 50 years after the events, with the complicity of corrupt powerful businessmen and an ineffectual Government, the gangsters are not only universally feared but they feel completely safe from any threat of possible International Criminal Court charges.

Oppenheimer filmed this over six years from 2005 - 2011 so the continuity is tad awkward at times especially with Anwar's changing hair coloring, but it gave the Director the opportunity to not only involve other Death Squad Members  but also to cover some events of the reactionary right-wing paramilitary organisation the Pancasila Youth.  It makes you realise the fact that although the genocide may be a thing of the past, the Country is still effectively controlled by these several million uniformed thugs who bare more than a passing resemblance to Hitler Youth.

When the first cut of the movie was shown to Werner Herzog the Executive Producer (along with Errol Morris) he said it was the most frightening and surreal film that he had ever seen, and he was not exaggerating.  As the thugs revel in talking about the countless atrocities that they enjoyed committing and were unmitigatingly proud of, the silent audience in the theater is numb with sheer disbelief. Each obscene fact they reveal never seems to prepare you for the fact that there is even worse to follow.  And when they are embraced by the Vice President of Indonesia who claims in a speech to a packed stadium 'we need gangsters to get things done', you realise there is no morality at all.

There is a scene towards the end of this harrowing movie when Congo is with his young grandsons watching  the rushes of the re-enactments, and he begins to understand something of the horror he put his victims through. It is, as Oppenheimer forces him to admit, far too little and far too late.

The man and his cohorts were/are monsters. Whatever reservation I had about the format of this movie and giving these killers a platform was soon dispelled as I really needed to know the history and the full impact of this genocide, and why the perpetrators are not only free but so proud of their record.  This is one of the toughest movies to watch, and I know the memory of it will haunt me for a very long time yet, but I am grateful for the experience.

When Steven Boone of The Guardian in the UK reviewed this movie he summed it up so succinctly 'It's often said of documentaries that they deserve to have as wide an audience as possible. This doesn't deserve; it demands.'

★★★★★★★★★★