The Act of Killing - 2013

It's hard to know where to begin with this documentary. It contains some of the most incredible human responses I've seen captured on camera.

If you clicked on the link attached to poster you'd see the following IMDB plot synopsis:

A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers.

Doesn't sound like an easy watch, and it isn't. In 1965 there was a military coup in Indonesia which resulted in a massive anti-communist purge. During that year 1-2 million "communists" were tortured and killed. The military did a lot of their dirty work through a number of well known gangsters. These gangsters became national heroes for the service provided their country. I tell you what, even as I write this it is difficult to resist the temptation to put most of these words in ironic quotations: "gangsters", "heroes", "service", even "country".

As challenging a subject matter as this is, the documentary handles it with stunning bravery and elegance. The most fascinating thing for me was watching the different ways each gangster made their peace (or not) with the past. For any human being, to face reality of having done such atrocities once all the violence, power and political propaganda has faded is near impossible.

At first there is a real pride in the role they played in these killings. They are, after all, national heroes because of it. But as each one revisits their memories of the time and share stories with the camera crew there is a very visible war going on inside their heads. Some do an about-face and deny their involvement completely with some surprising lies. Some, even as they are hearing themselves tell these stories, start to try harder and harder to rationalise why the killings were good or even necessary. Some accept that what they did was terrible and leave it in the past. Some, sad to say, abandon all morals in order to maintain the believe they've done nothing wrong.

But the most compelling character in this documentary is a gangster named Anwar Congo who is fiercely committed to honesty and telling the whole story. He believes at the beginning that the truth will speak for itself. If what they did is as heroic as the government says it is, then they have nothing to hide. And while his story through the documentary is absolutely heart breaking, you champion him for keeping his heart open and allowing it to break. Again, I've never witnessed anything quite like this on film.

If you have any interest in human psychology, morality, history or film-making I urge you to check this phenomenal work!