Favorite movie of 2013 (10/10)

Taryn 2022-01-11 08:01:40

My favorite movie of 2013, the nearly three-hour documentary makes my scalp tingling almost every minute. Indonesia's anti-Chinese massacre in the 1960s has gradually been forgotten by the world. Without this documentary, this history may have been lost. The fact is that blood-stained murderers permitted by these countries are still rich and powerful in the local area. Not only do they not feel ashamed and regretful when recalling the past, but they flaunt their contributions to the people of the country. What is even more shocking is that local government officials, the media, and even the vice president support these murderers and hooligan groups one-sidedly. When cameras follow these gangsters to openly blackmail local Chinese shops, when these murderers happily simulate and tell the murder scene decades ago, you may not believe your eyes.

In order to make this documentary, the director lived in Indonesia for seven years. At first, his thoughts were very similar to those of general documentary directors: interviewing the survivors or children of their families who were victims of Chinese people. After a few years of useless work, the director found that the survivors and children of their families were totally afraid to speak up. Simply blazing a new trail, taking the unassuming murderers as the protagonists, exposing their proud ugly images, instead created this shocking documentary that is a mixture of magic, absurdity and reality.

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The Act of Killing quotes

  • Anwar Congo: Why do people watch James Bond? To see action. Why do people watch films about Nazis? To see power and sadism! We can do that! We can make something even more sadistic than... more sadistic than what you see in movies about Nazis. Sure I can. Because there's never been a movie where heads get chopped off - except in fiction, but that's different - because I did it in real life!

  • Anwar Congo: Honestly, I never expected it would look this awful. My friends kept telling me to act more sadistic. But then I saw the women and children. Imagine those children's future. They've been tortured. Now their houses are burnt down. What future do they have? They will curse us for the rest of their lives. This was so very, very, very...