History for the most part consigns the worst mass killers and tyrants to the margins. Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act Of Killing brings them up to the fore and gives them a voice to speak of their atrocities and a forum to re-enact the abuses they committed. Oppenheimer's subjects are the death squad killers who helped President Suharto execute millions of people in his 1965 coup d'etat; street hoodlums and gangsters who rose through the ranks of a brutal dictatorship, renowned for their thirst for torture and murder. Their frank discussions of their torture practices and murder must count for some of the most disturbing testimony ever committed to film. Oppenheimer released a companion piece to The Act Of Killing earlier this year, The Look Of Silence - here, he spoke to the surviving families of victims of Suharto's genocide, still living in a country where the killers remain in power. What other powerful documentaries have you seen this decade? Why not tell us about them in the comments?
