in the trilogy; the third, tentatively
film genres, both as perpetrators and
called The Look of Silence, in which a victims.
family confronts the man who mur-
Along the way, Oppenheimer
dered their son, is in progress.
makes it clear that the huge para-
"My family are pretty secular
military movement Pancasila Youth,
[Jews]," Oppenheimer says, "but my
which gleefully embraces these men,
father's family and my stepmother's
is well-connected with the current
family came from Europe. My
government and eager to repeat the
father's father was from Frankfurt,
crimes of the past.
and he got out just in time with his
Ironically, Congo would be unlike-
family. In my stepmother's family,
ly to participate again. What makes
a lot of people were killed [by the
The Act of Killing so compelling is
Nazis] in the camps:'
not only Congo's utter candor but the
As a boy growing up in the
process of emotional and spiritual
Washington, D.C., area, he was
change that the crafty old man expe-
raised with the idea "that the aim
riences over the course of the film-
of all morality is to prevent human
ing process.
beings from doing this again," he
"Anwar was the 41st [perpetrator]
explains.
I'd filmed:' Oppenheimer recalls.
"Never again to anybody— not
"His pain was close to the surface.
just us, but anybody. As I became
When he would talk about what
aware of the world, both my parents
he had done, the past was present,
were upset by the fact that mass kill-
and it was haunting him. When we
ings just keep happening. We keep
showed him the final version of the
doing this again and again."
film, I was watching him on Skype;
Genocide is a subject that docu-
he sat there in silence and cried."
mentarians have explored almost
Indonesia is a nation in which this
continuously since the end of World
part of the past remained buried
War II. The overwhelming major-
until The Act of Killing brought it
ity of such films have focused on
back to the surface in unexpected
the survivors and victims of such
ways. Circumventing the rigid
murders. The Indonesian situation,
censorship of the government,
Oppenheimer found, made that
Oppenheimer and his producers
incredibly difficult and dangerous.
first screened the film privately for
The killers not only experience
human rights activists, schools and
impunity, as the human rights
journalists.
groups call it, but are openly encour-
One result of those screenings was
aged to publically recount their
a powerful investigative report that
crimes as a way of reminding the
formed an entire special issue of
future generations of Indonesians
the nation's largest newsmagazine,
that they could be next.
Tempo.
Not surprisingly, when
"That set the tone for the media
Oppenheimer and his crew (most
coverage that has followed in
of whom remain anonymous on the
Indonesia," Oppenheimer says with
film's credits) began interviewing
understandable pride. By now the
survivors for his first film, signifi-
film has been screened more than
cant pressure was brought to bear by 500 times in the country for groups
ranging in size from 30-700 people.
barely disguised government forces.
That was when the light bulb
As for Oppenheimer, the process
went on in the filmmaker's head. He
of making The Act of Killing and his
would film the killers instead.
other two films about Indonesia has
"I'm not a cop; I don't have to look been painful, "but as a Jew, this is
at people in terms of apprehension
family history for me," he says.
or judgment," he says. "And this
"That's why I've given all the time
wasn't a lure. They were open about
to this project, 12 years when it's all
what they'd done. They would tell
done. The messages I grew up must
horrible stories, getting close to the
be connected to why I gave so much
core evil in minutes:'
to this."
That grisly openness, combined
with the perpetrators' strange search
The Act of Killing screens at 7
for approval in dramatic film terms,
p.m.
Friday and Saturday, Aug.
led Oppenheimer to create a film
9-10;
2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11; 9:30
quite unlike any other, a "documen-
p.m.
Friday
and Saturday, Aug.
tary of the imagination," as he has
16-17;
and
4:30
p.m. Sunday, Aug.
called it in several interviews.
18,
at
the
Detroit
Film Theatre
He allowed Anwar Congo, one of
in
the
Detroit
Institute
of Arts.
the most feared of the gangsters of
$6.50-$7.50.
(313)
833-4005;
Northern Sumatra, and his friends
tickets.dia.org .
to create their own fantasy film, re-
enacting their crimes in a variety of

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