The Michigan Theater recently screened Oscar Nominated documentary The Act of Killing, a spine-chilling re-enactment of multiple political assassinations under the supervision of Indonesia’s late fascist regime. The film will soon be available for streaming on Netflix, and I highly encourage watching it. Seeing it in a theater setting was a rare treat, as documentaries are hard to come by in such a viewing context. The filmmaker asks former government elites under Indonesia’s fascist regime to re-create some of their assassinations however they see fit. What follows is a disturbing gaze into the mind of cold-blooded killers.
Each recreation is unique in style, and not only a representation of the assassinations, but also a glimpse into the mind of the men behind the murders. The director makes an interesting decision to cede artistic authorship to the individual whose memory they are trying to gain insight into. The death-squad members choose various styles of re-enactment–from crime scenarios to musicals. I will focus on two re-enactments left the most intense impressions upon me.
Therefore, The Act of Killing is stylistically incoherent, episodic in nature, and constantly changing in style and tone. For every murder recreated, there is a unique cast, style of cinematography, and atmosphere. One of the first killings casts children as the assassin’s and target. Although initially appearing tongue-in-cheek, this choice is perhaps the most disturbing of all–seeing this rendition through an innocent facade is highly unnerving, accentuating the ruthless nature of the act.
Another killing involves family members of the victim. The family members are unable to maintain composure during the shoot. They have still not recovered from the psychological wound inflicted by their family member’s death. In contrast, the man who sanctioned the murder calmly ridicules the family’s softness–he shows no sign of remorse, no sign of conscience.
The vignette nature of The Act of Killing emphasizes an important point–the cinema or television viewing screen, through which we receive ever-increasing amounts of information, is anything but objective. Someone always has an agenda, an ideological filter which transforms the viewing conditions of information. Some sensationalize, some propagandize, some omit. Regardless, the realization that the same story can be told several different ways to different affects is an important lesson–we should be skeptical of the screen, because the screen is not truth, it is a facade.
Moreover, I personally reflected on the number of deaths I have seen on cinema and television screens. Most of the deaths I see on screen are pretend, fictional deaths in Hollywood films or network TV shows. Although I develop feelings for characters and empathize with their losses, at some level I understand these feelings aren’t real–they’re a reaction to a falsehood, after all. The Act of Killing lead me to consider exactly to what extent I have been desensitized not only to the physical act of violence, but the long-lasting psychological damage it inflicts.
I credit the documentary’s style: over-emphasis of the re-enactment. Since every segment is jarringly different in style, I am constantly reminded that no matter how visceral the experience, I am not seeing the real thing. I am seeing a mere shadow of the horror inflicted upon a nation of innocents. A mere fraction of the terrible things humanity can conspire to inflict upon itself. Something to think about, something to remember, something to constantly be on guard against.
