The Act of Killing

1) The Act of Killing is about the true story of mass murderers Anwar Congo and his friends. When the government in Indonesia was taken over by the military in 1965, Anwar and others were promoted to death squad leaders and killed over one million communists. In this documentary Anwar and others were asked to make a film about the murders of the alleged communists that happened in the 1960's, through any way they wished.

2) The scene that stood out to me was the re-enactment of the torturing of the communists, in which Anwar played the part of the communist. The reason this scene stood out to me was because it was the moment where Anwar said he now understood how the people being tortured felt. Although there was no way Anwar was able to comprehend the fear and the terror of those being tortured, we later understood that Anwar had noticed the error of his ways.

3) The filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer, was the director for the documentary and was on set for consultation, but the scenes that were recreated were all made by Anwar Congo in the way that he wanted it be.

4) The two honored documentary filmmakers were Werner Herzog and Errol Morris.

Errol Morris is known for making documentaries such as 'The thin blue line' and 'The Unknown Known'.

Werner Herzog had made such films as 'Fitzcarraldo' and 'Grizzly Man'

5) The follow up/sequel to the film was The Look of Silence and is about An optician who confronts the men who killed his brother he never knew during the 1960's Indonesian geno
cide.