3. The Act Of Killing
The bad guys don't always lose. Anwar Congo and Adi Zulkadry are living proof. The Act of Killing unflinchingly rubs eyeballs with two Indonesian criminals responsible for the massacre of thousands; provoking them into discussion of how and why they snatched away so many innocent human lives. Joshua Oppenheimer's confrontational documentary camera gradually reaches under the skin of the gangsters that led death squads throughout Indonesia in the 1960's. During interviews, the director slowly dares to break down the psyches of these leaders of genocide by placing them in their victims' positions. The killers reenact their execution methods on one another, along with recounting tales of the days where they nonchalantly disposed of any human beings who caused them problems. The result is essential cinema that you can barely bring yourself to watch. Over the course of the film, Anwar is provided with enlightenment to the atrocities of his own heinous acts. Whilst Zulkadry and others attempt to appear unmoved, we see Anwar's basic humanity - which he has suppressed all these years - coming back to the surface in an ugly fit of realization in the film's conclusion. The Act of Killing is disturbing on so many levels, but remains simply unmissable.