Against all odds, this strange, chilling and powerful film is opening in Bangkok and Chiang Mai cinemas today.
The Act Of Killing is a 2012 documentary by US filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer that revisits the brutal 1960s killings of “communists” in Indonesia, when gangs of fascist thugs backed by the Suharto government went around torturing and murdering people from the opposite camp — or in fact anyone they suspected of harbouring different ideas. The film won praise, topped critics’ charts and courted some controversy due to its unusual approach. It was nominated for the Oscars and made the shortlist in 2014.
Thai distributor Documentary Club and SF Cinema deserve credit for bringing the film to the big screen here. The film is showing at SF CentralWorld and Maya Chiang Mai (one screening a day). After The Act Of Killing, next week they will also release the sequel, called The Look Of Silence, another powerful account of the same incident.
What makes the three-hour-long The Act Of Killing disturbing and yet engaging is the way the story is told. Oppenheimer, who did his research in Indonesia from the early 2000s onwards, met two former assassins who are now in their 70s and 80s. Instead of hiding their crimes, the two men — Anwar Congo and Herman Koto — proudly bragged about their murderous activities and how their killing rampage helped save the country. They were even willing to show the filmmaker the way they operated, such as how they strangled people, and how they devised a way to execute the “communists” with extreme efficiency. The film asks them to re-enact their homicidal practices for the camera, and pushes the blood-drunk further into the realm of phantasmagoria, complete with musical numbers and horror soap operas. The effect is like watching two murderers in a confession box at an asylum.
Critics praised the film for its inventiveness and power, while others doubted if the film takes its theatrical macabre too far. Naturally, The Act Of Killing was banned in Indonesia, though there were reports of robust download activities.
Having a film like this on the big screen here is rare; The Act Of Killing is not something you would take your date to see, and yet its historical gravity and contemporary relevance is undeniable, a story of continuing resonance that every country in the region should reflect upon. It is fitting then that on Saturday, the 3pm screening at SF CentralWorld will be followed by a talk titled “State-sponsored Crimes in Southeast Asia”, by eminent historian Charnvit Kasetsiri.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.