The Act of Killing

• The film was about the Indonesian massacre that happened in 1965-1966. The documentary follows the people that carried out killings of communists whilst they are making a film to show their stories. The film exposes the scale of the 'death squad's' crimes by getting them to recount what happened through acting the killings out. 

• The scene that stood out for me the most was when Anwar Congo has to play the part of a victim being tortured and killed. For someone who's said to have killed over 1,000 people it was apparent that he had never felt like a victim. He finds it hard playing this part and later in the documentary he tearfully reveals that he felt the way his victims must have felt when he tortured them. This was a powerful scene because it gave me a more honest representation of the impact it had on him. Before this scene he was mostly boastful about his past. 

• The filmmaker did have a presence as he often added thought provoking comments. For example when Anwar claims he knows how his victims must have felt after acting out the scene where he was the victim, Josh says that the victims felt worse because the were actually about to be killed whereas Anwar knew it was just acting. Overall Josh doesn't talk much and we don't actually see him, however he leads the topics being discussed and asks questions from behind the camera.

• Werner Herzog and Errol Morris had executive producer credits on the film. Werner Herzog is known as one of the greatest figures of the New German cinema and was named one of the 100 most influential people on the planet. Errol Morris is a very famous film maker and his documentaries helped spur a rebirth of non-fiction film in the 80's.

• The sequel to this film is called The Look of Silence and is about a man who survives the Indonesian genocide confronts the men that killed his brother.