In this blog post, we will analyze the structure and core message of Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary ‘The Look of Silence’ and examine its significance. Structural Analysis The documentary ‘The Look of Silence’ unfolds as “Adi,” an optician, personally tracks down the perpetrators who murdered his older brother “Ramli” after 50 years to ask them about the massacre...
How does Joshua Oppenheimer’s ‘The Act of Killing’ reveal the “responsibility” for the 1965 Indonesian massacre through the stories of Ramli and Adi?
In this blog post, we will examine how Adi’s pursuit—through the lens of ‘The Act of Killing’’s narrative and documentary techniques—exposes the perpetrators’ arrogance and societal amnesia, and what it demands of the audience. Film Overview Genre: Documentary / Country of Production: Denmark / Director: Joshua Oppenheimer. Synopsis: Amid the memories of the 1965 Indonesian...
Analysis of the Film “Silent Gaze”: Documentary-Style Narrative and Analysis of Sequences by Type
In this blog post, I will summarize the reasons for selecting the film “Silent Gaze,” its plot, analysis by genre and sequence, and my concluding thoughts. Reasons for Selection In April 2014, while I was serving in the military as a riot police officer with the 3rd Mobile Brigade, the Sewol Ferry disaster occurred. The state has a duty to protect its citizens, but it was only natural that...
Where Does Guilt Go When Perpetrators Reenact the Massacre in ‘The Act of Killing’?
In this blog post, I will examine how the psychology of the perpetrators and social memory intertwine through the reenactment scenes and the testimonies of the participants in ‘The Act of Killing’. Film Information and Reasons for Selection ‘The Act of Killing’ is a 2013 documentary co-produced by Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom, which was released in South...
The Act of Killing: Why Did the Film Portray the Mass Murderers as Heroes?
This blog post examines the societal structure that elevates mass murderers to heroes and the hidden violence of power behind it, using the film The Act of Killing as a lens. During the 1965 coup in Indonesia, the military regime secretly murdered over a million communists, intellectuals, and ethnic Chinese under the pretext of ‘anti-communism’. This tragedy, an organized state-sponsored...