9. The Stark (Un)Reality Of Murder - The Act Of Killing
Joshua Oppenheimer's shocking documentary used real members of death squads to give accounts of the 1965 anti-communist slaughter in Indonesia. These men were asked to recreate the human rights abuses they perpetrated which makes for a chilling and hard film to watch, not least because the free reign of the reenactments meant they were stylised to suit various film genres. At an international screening in Berlin the film was compared to "having SS officers re-enact the holocaust," which should tell you everything about the controversy factor here. Victims of the purges have protested the film saying that the role of the military in the murders has been ignored. Survivor Astaman Hasibuan told The Jakarta Post in September 2012; "The film did not involve the military, despite the fact that soldiers carried out the massacres. I voice my protest." He went on to say that despite being interviewed for the film and reading the script he is disappointed in the direction it finally took, tarnishing the names of youths and protecting military forces.
