The Act of Killing

Started by wilder, May 23, 2013, 04:14:57 PM

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Mel

Quote from: Alexandro on January 21, 2014, 09:42:46 AM
you are right in all accounts. I was perplexed by the criticisms this man makes, not because he makes them, but because they're so misguided to the point it sounds as he is incapable of using his own head while watching a film.

It turns out it isn't a man, it is a women (Jennifer Merin) discussing film with Nick Fraser. Here you can find her review: http://documentaries.about.com/od/revie2/fr/The-Act-Of-Killing-Movie-Review-2013.htm

Some parts:

QuoteOppenheimer was prohibited from interviewing genocide survivors or the kin of those who were killed. He was even jailed for attempting to do so. And so he moved on to interviewing the perpetrators of evil, the thugs who've never been held accountable, never punished, never made to apologize for their murderous deeds.

(...)

But what about the victims? We never meet them. They exist only as abstractions -- from the point of view of their killers. That's an emotional disconnect that seems downright dangerous in a film about genocide.

Seriously?

QuoteBut all of this background information isn't actually in the film. And, without knowledge of how the conceit came to be, the documentary fails to become the serious indictment that it is perhaps intended to be.

(...)

It's quite likely that most people don't know all the horrific details about the genocide in Indonesia. They probably won't be much better informed after seeing this film. But at least they will know that it happened. And their knowledge that humans are capable of inhuman behavior will be confirmed. Again.

It wasn't tailored toward western audience, which is used to spoon feeding? I searched for information on Indonesian killings after watching "The Act of Killing".

I remember reading article about critics not keeping up with developments in documentaries. I think I know what they meant.
Simple mind - simple pleasures...

wilder

Werner Herzog to Executive Produce Joshua Oppenheimer's 'Act of Killing' Follow-Up
via The Hollywood Reporter

Herzog is partnering with Errol Morris to back "The Look of Silence," which Oppenheimer says will approach the same Indonesian genocide as his Oscar-nominated doc, but from a new angle.

Werner Herzog and Errol Morris have both signed on to executive produce The Look of Silence, director Joshua Oppenheimer's follow-up to his documentary The Act of Killing.

The two celebrated filmmakers and documentarians were early champions of The Act of Killing, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2012 and was the subject of growing buzz on the festival circuit, gradually becoming one of the most talked about and critically acclaimed films of 2013. Both directors lent their names to the film as executive producers; Oppenheimer says they gave him notes and some editing suggestions. The film is considered a front-runner in the best documentary category at the 86th Academy Awards, to be held March 2.

The Act of Killing delves into the mass murder of an estimated 500,000 Indonesians during the so-called "communist purge" in the country in the 1960s, and seeks to illuminate the pernicious legacy of the period in present-day Indonesian society and politics. But rather than depicting the events with archival footage and talking heads, Oppenheimer invited some of the original living killers to recreate their acts on camera, deploying the genre archetypes of their choosing. Herzog has described the results -- alternately horrifying and blackly humorous -- as "a new form of cinematic surrealism," one that reveals the perpetrators' self-conceptions of their crimes, rather than merely documenting what took place.

Oppenheimer -- originally from Texas, now based primarily in Amsterdam -- spent eight years producing the film with a crew of over 30 Indonesians, most of whom have had to remain anonymous, for fear of reprisals by the local paramilitary groups and politicians who are the heirs and beneficiaries of the genocide and political power grab that the film calls attention to. Oppenheimer says he still regularly receives death threats via Facebook and Twitter and wouldn't feel safe returning to Indonesia.

"[These people] may wish the issues raised by the film will go away, but they won't, because The Look of Silence, which I shot before The Act of Killing was released – knowing that I probably wouldn't be able to return to Indonesia – will be released later this year," Oppenheimer told THR.

He says the new film isn't a sequel to The Act of Killing, but rather a standalone work that approaches some of the same humanitarian issues, albeit via different cinematic techniques.

"In some ways it's the film I set out to make at the beginning," he said. "It's about a family of survivors, who find out who killed their son through my work with the first 40 perpetrators I met and filmed before I encountered Anwar (the former gang leader and aging killer who is the focus of The Act of Killing). The youngest brother in this family decides he will confront the men who did this to his brother and it's about that process."

The Look of Silence is due out in 2014. The release date will depend on which film festival hosts its world premiere, Oppenheimer said.

Mel



Highlights (interview is lengthy, so I omitted some things): Indonesia being a biggest country that isn't on the map, political situation in the region, opportunistic aspect of the crimes, western involvement in the crimes, meeting Adi and his deep understanding of the situation, going to Indonesia almost by accident and the learning language, scariest moments of the filming, building support for documentary in the country before going forward with it.
Simple mind - simple pleasures...

Pedro

Have we really not discussed this more?  A game-changer. An insane, moving film.  It shook me to my core.  Perfect. 




Reel

I'm afraid I'll develop PTSD from watching it