"The Act of Killing" sets the stage for the truth

THE PERPETRATORS of genocide in Indonesia in the 1960s are given a chance to tell their side of the story in “The Act of Killing”, which has these colourful military figures and politicans re-enacting their gruesome deeds in often self-aggrandising fashion, in scenes from their favourite types of movies – westerns, film-noir mysteries and lavishly staged musical numbers.
The documentary rubbed me the wrong way when I saw it in a one-off special screening in Bangkok a few years ago. I felt it let those men mostly off the hook for their wave of politically motivated killings in 1965-66. But it was part of a one-two punch by director Joshua Oppenheimer and his “anonymous” team of filmmakers, who followed up the “The Act of Killing” with the powerful and essential counter-punch, “The Look of Silence”, which focused on one gentle survivor's personal search for truth and justice.
Brought back to SF cinemas this week by the Documentary Club, “The Act of Killing” is the 159-minute “director’s cut. It won many awards, including the European Film Award for Best Documentary and the Asia Pacific Screen Award. It was also a nominee for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
The must-see followup “The Look of Silence” is released next Thursday. There’s a special screening of both films from 6pm tomorrow at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld in an event put together by the Documentary Club and Film Kawan.
Apart from that special screening, regular venues for “The Act of Killing” are SF World, SFX Central Rama 9, SFX Central Lad Phrao and SFX Maya Chiang Mai. For further details, check www.facebook.com/|DocumentaryClubTH or booking.sfcinemacity.com.