Delayed Reaction: The Look of Silence

The Pitch: Like The Act of Killing, but less disturbing.

I don't have a single "type" of movie that appeals to me, but "Indonesian documentary about genocide" sounds like the opposite of what my type would be. Ok. That's not true. I loved The Raid (Indonesian) and all sorts of documentaries. I've seen my fair share of Holocaust movies too. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that The Look of Silence is a hard sell.

It's a companion piece with The Act of Killing. While The Act of Killing focused on the killers, The Look of Silence is about the victims. Either way, it is unbelievable stuff. Back in 1965, after a coup, the government of Indonesia systematically killed anyone opposing them (mainly communists). It's estimated that one million people were slaughtered. The men who committed these murders have been in power of the government ever since and never had to repent for these savage killings. Many look back on it with pride and levity. The Look of Silence follows the younger brother of one of the men killed as he confronts the men responsible for the killings. Initially, he pretends to be there to test their eyesight for glasses, but he slowly reveals himself over time. Those scenes are interspersed with footage of two men walking through how they murdered these prisoners 50 years ago. They even mention by name the man's brother. We are never given the name of this man, by the way. He wished to remain anonymous for his safety. Many names in the closing credits are also listed as 'anonymous' too. If you are looking for a sign that a documentary is about some serious shit, crew members wishing to remain anonymous is a great indicator.

This film is chilling and at times darkly comedic. Take for example the mention by some of the murderers that the way to prevent going mad from all the killings is to drink the victims' blood. It's an absurd solution to -you know- feeling guilt like a well-adjusted person should, but these men are completely serious about it. They truly believe that if you drink a man's blood, you won't go mad from guilt*. I wanted to laugh at the stupidity of the idea but I was too busy being disturbed by it. The film is also a great study in how no one takes the blame for what they've done. For all the men the anonymous man interviews, there's always a man higher up telling him to do these awful things or an insistence that he didn't know what was going on. It's not really their fault, they argue. They were just doing what they were told. That much can be easily applied to situations in any country, culture, or time period.

*I'd argue that there's some causation vs. correlation going on here. If you are insane enough to drink a man's blood, you are likely not going to feel guilty about slaughtering dozens of people.
 
I'm going to stop there, simply because digging into this deeper is going to really bum me out. I definitely recommend seeing this, although, have a Reese Witherspoon comedy prepared to follow it just in case you need the jolt of light-heartedness.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend