THE ACT OF KILLING

»I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade«, says Werner Herzog, himself a filmmaker of extremes, about THE ACT OF KILLING. Joshua Oppenheimer attempts in his film to come to terms with the mass slaughter of alleged communists in Indonesia in the mid-1960s after general Suharto‘s military coup – by encouraging the former killers to re-stage their actions in front of the camera. The perpetrators lack any sense of remorse – as people continue to celebrate them as national heroes. Showing images that leave viewers stunned and disconcerted, THE ACT OF KILLING is a testament to the fact that history is written by the victors.