Review of The Act of Killing (2012) by Nick D — 30 Jan 2014
Audacious, ambitious, odd, surreal, unbelievable, horrifying, deeply disturbing... I could go on. Oppenheimer sets as his goal the exploration of a horrendous act of genocide in mid-60s Indonesia, when the military-led regime unleashes death squads on ethnic Chinese and others they brand as "communists.
" But whoa, what he does with the story is unprecedented. He finds and interviews a posse of former killers, mostly petty thugs and criminals. The interviews, which are revelatory in themselves, interrupt recreations of some of the killings staged by the thugs as a "Hollywood movie.
" It's like Hitler and Himmler cast in the remake of The Producers. Must be seen to be believed.
This review of The Act of Killing (2012) was written by Nick D on 30 Jan 2014.
The Act of Killing has generally received very positive reviews.
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