Review of The Act of Killing (2012) by Kenneth B — 10 Dec 2013

The Act of Killing is a truly bizarre documentary. The concept is that a small group of former Indonesian death-squad leaders recount and reenact various killings from their past. Each of them appear to share a fixation with Hollywood, one of them name-checks Pacino and Brando at one point (that'll be The Godfather then).

Throughout, the self-proclaimed 'gangsters' seem to be in a near complete state of ignorance to the brevity of the crimes that they have committed. Openly rationalising their actions. There is, however, a moment of realisation towards the end by one of the 'protagonists' which is actually the most effective scene in the film.

This is a difficult film to watch at times but for the most part it is distant and bizarre enough for that to not really be a problem. Nonetheless it is a unique piece of work and it illustrates just how versatile the documentary form can be.