3. The Act Of Killing Wins Documentary
This was the category that arguably offered up some of the biggest surprises when the nominations were announced. Heavy favourites Blackfish and Stories We Tell were left out for the likes of Dirty Wars and Cutie And The Boxer. But one of the predicted nominees proved to be too strong to be left out and that was Joshua Oppenheimer's creative and devastatingly eye-opening documentary The Act Of Killing. Revealing the relatively unknown backstory of Indonesia's mass killings between 1965 and 1966, Oppenheimer focuses on retired gangster Anwar Congo and his partners in ex-crime by giving them the opportunity to re-enact some of their atrocities in an effort to understand the reason behind so much senseless violence. The result is a revelatory documentary that is nothing short of an exploration into the darkest corners of the human soul. Nothing against the other documentaries in the competition, but the Act Of Killing is in my opinion a clear step above in level of importance and worthiness of recognition. The good news is that it's currently the frontrunner for the statue so chances are very good that this will be one of those likely wins.