[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-43136-en":3,"doc-seo-43136-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},43136,8796095461564,"Liam","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d",2,"Literature","The Act of Killing: An Interview with Joshua Oppenheimer","The article presents an interview-style review of Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary The Act of Killing, set against Indonesia’s 1965 coup and the ensuing communist purge. It explains the film’s unconventional method: having former death-squad killers reenact their murders through Oppenheimer’s “documentary of the imagination” approach. Rather than focusing on victims, the film spotlights perpetrators’ ease, bragging, and lack of repentance. The discussion highlights how propaganda and the enduring power structure keep the genocide’s narrative intact while shaping contemporary Indonesian society.","CINEASTE  \n# The Act of Killing:An Interview with Joshua Oppenheimer\n\nAuthor(s):Melis Behlil,Joshua Oppenheimer and Robert Cashill  \nSource:Cinéaste,Vol.38,No.3(Summer 2013),pp.26-33  \nPublished by:Cineaste Publishers,Inc.  \nStable URL:https://www.jstor.org/stable/43500851  \nAccessed:23-10-201908:24 UTC  \nJSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars,researchers,and students discover,use,and build upon a widerange of content in a trusted digital archive.We use information technology and tools to increase productivity andfacilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR,please contact support@jstor.org.  \nYour use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms &Conditions of Use,available athttps://about.jstor.org/terms  \nCineaste Publishers,Inc.is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend accessto Cineaste  \n# The Act of KillingAn Interview withJoshua Oppenheimer\n\nby Melis Behlil  \nn 1965,a U.S.-backed military coup in Indonesia replaced theanticolonialist founder of the country,Sukarno,with right-wingGeneral Suharto.Following the coup,the Indonesian CommunistParty was banned and,within a year after the coup,over one million“communists”were murdered.Anyone opposing the military dictator-ship could be accused of being a communist.The Act of Killing,JoshuaOppenheimer's provocative new feature-length documentary,draws aportrait of contemporary Indonesia,a country that more than fourdecades after these events is still governed by the same forces and stilldominated by fear.  \nI  \nThe film opens with the highly surreal image of young femaledancers gracefully emergingfrom the mouth of a giant rusty fish.Evok-  \ning a Technicolor spectaclefrom the heyday of Holly-wood musicals,the scenecontinues,as the dancers arejoined by an elderly manand a hefty,almostgrotesque drag queen infront of a waterfall.All the  \nThe filmmaker explains how he used cinematicre-creations\"starring\"former Indonesian death-squad killers to enable long-buried memories ofgenocide to seep through into the present.  \nWhile the documentaryis not strictly about theevents of 1965,interviewswith Congo and other wit-nesses offer an informative  \nwhile,anf-screenvoice,presumablybelongingtothedirector,shouinstructions,urging the participants to smile and feel“real joy.”Notyour usual introduction to a documentary film about the unspeakablehorrors of genocide.  \nBut The Act of Killing is not like other documentaries.Rather thangiving a voice to the victims,it chooses to talk to the perpetratorsinstead.Employing a style he terms “documentary of the imagination,”Oppenheimer has not only interviewed the killers but also asked themto re-create scenes of their murders in whatever way they wished.Theresult is not bland re-enactments,but wildly imaginative scenes that onoccasion have nothing to do with the actual events.But it is not thesescenes that are the most horrifying;in fact,there is little blood or vio-lence visible throughout the film.What is truly terrifying is the easewith which the killers recount their stories—they brag,flaunt,expressno regrets or show no signs of repentance.History is written by the vic-tors,of course,and the victors of the communist witch-hunt followingthe 1965 military coup in Indonesia are still in power.The director'sdecision to talk to the killers is one born mostly out of necessity:the vic-tims were still too scared to speak out,so it was only through the perpe-trators that the horrors of the past could be brought to light.  \nThe Act of Killing divulges the historical facts at the very beginningwith solemn intertitlesThe text is superimposed on images of emptystreets at duskThe peaceful yet eerie emptiness suggesting the vanishedmasses is then suddenly interrupted by a young biker,grounding the filmfirmly in the present.The main protagonist of the film is Anwar Congo,aformer gang leader and killer in the North Sumatran city of Medan,whoalso happens to be a big fan of Hollywood moviesWe see h","cbCaioVUvfalzBF6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioVUvfalzBF6","pdf",2143386,3,1,9,"English","en",105,"# The Act of Killing and Indonesia’s 1965 coup\n## Documentary of the imagination and reenactments\n## Perpetrators’ voices, propaganda, and historical memory","[{\"question\":\"What historical events does The Act of Killing relate to?\",\"answer\":\"The documentary centers on the 1965 U.S.-backed military coup in Indonesia and the subsequent communist purge that led to the murder of more than a million people. It also reflects on how the same power dynamics and fear persist decades later.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Oppenheimer’s documentary method differ from typical documentaries?\",\"answer\":\"Instead of giving primary voice to victims, it interviews perpetrators and asks them to recreate their murders in the way they prefer. The result is imaginative, surreal scenes rather than straightforward re-enactments.\"},{\"question\":\"What makes the film especially disturbing according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"The article emphasizes the terrifying ease with which the killers recount their stories—bragging, flaunting actions, showing no regrets, and offering no repentance. The shock comes less from visible violence than from the narrators’ attitude and the ongoing power that validates their version of history.\"}]",1783377791,14,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":28},"the-act-of-killing-an-interview-with-joshua-oppenheimer","",{"@graph":36,"@context":84},[37,52,67],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,49],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-act-of-killing-an-interview-with-joshua-oppenheimer/43136/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":41,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-19","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What historical events does The Act of Killing relate to?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"The documentary centers on the 1965 U.S.-backed military coup in Indonesia and the subsequent communist purge that led to the murder of more than a million people. It also reflects on how the same power dynamics and fear persist decades later.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"How does Oppenheimer’s documentary method differ from typical documentaries?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Instead of giving primary voice to victims, it interviews perpetrators and asks them to recreate their murders in the way they prefer. The result is imaginative, surreal scenes rather than straightforward re-enactments.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What makes the film especially disturbing according to the article?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The article emphasizes the terrifying ease with which the killers recount their stories—bragging, flaunting actions, showing no regrets, and offering no repentance. The shock comes less from visible violence than from the narrators’ attitude and the ongoing power that validates their version of history.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,99,103,108,113,118,123,127,130,134],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":126},"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":129},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":131,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":131,"slug":133},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]