The Act of Killing Blog Post

1.What is the film about? What happens?

The film is about the militia overthrowing the Indonesian government. The film follows Anwar Congo and his friends and they all document what happened back in 1965 where they were allowed to kill and murder. The director, Joshua Oppenheimer, allowed Anwar and his mass murdering friends to create films and musicals to show how they killed people. During the film, Anwar becomes more aware of his actions and by the end is very sad about what he had done, going so far to begin to throw up near the end. Anwar wanted the films to resemble western films from 1965 and 1966 which were the films Anwer enjoyed the most.

2. Was there a scene where it stood out for you? What was it and why?

The part where Anwar is watching his scene where he gets tortured and strangled really stood out for me. During the filming of that scene he is then watching, Anwar shows that he was very sad and he could barely move. Later on, he talks about how fear had overcome him and that he was really scared, and he had then realised that's how the people he tortured and killed felt but worse, and Anwar felt sad about what he had done. He cried because he had realised he killed so many people with the same emotions he felt during filming, but he realised they felt it far worse than he did.

3. Did the filmmaker have a presence? How and in what capacity?

Joshua Oppenheimer was never really on screen. He would talk and interact with people on screen but he was never seen. Anwar and his friends would also talk to him and Joshua would ask questions back.

4.What two honoured documentary filmmakers had executive producer credits on the film?

Werner Herzog who is famous for directing Grizzly Man and acting in several TV shows like American Dad! and The Simpsons, and Errol Morris who is famous for directing The Thin Blue Line and The Fog of War.

5. What was the follow up/'sequel' to the film? Find the title and describe what it was about.

The sequel was called The Look of Silence. The film was about a man who's brother was killed in Indonesia in 1965, and this man has confronted the killers but they had shown no remorse.