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Poster for The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing

A story of killers who win and the society they build.

2012 · 1h 57m · Not Rated Documentary, History
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer , Christine Cynn

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Overview

In this chilling and groundbreaking documentary, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia’s 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
96%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Bizarre, hypnotic, audacious.

James Adams, Globe and Mail
Fresh

The emotional places this troubling movie takes him to are rewardingly primal and potent, forcing both subject and viewer to wrestle with internal demons.

Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Fresh

I certainly do not move that the film should be suppressed, only that one should know what it is. It is a bath in a smiling madness.

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic
Fresh

This stunning "documentary of the imagination" shows Anwar and other thugs staging scenes of torture and murder for the camera.

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh

In The Act of Killing, director Joshua Oppenheimer pulls off the impossible: He confronts great, incomprehensible evil and puts a human face on it.

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

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