The Act Of Killing uses the perspective of the killers in Indonesia to show the audience the extent of the mass killings. Despite merging talks about the events from the main figures such as; Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Yapto Soerjosoemarno and others, Anwar and his past colleagues present the killings in Indonesia through the median of film.
Film is one of the main themes in the documentary. There a multiple scenes of Anwar and Herman reminiscing about going to the movie theatre as they were "movie theatre gangsters". Depicting this theme within the documentary is effective in bringing a group of mass murderers down to a human level. The dream like opening scene and focusing documentary on celebrated killers in Indonesia presents a gap for within the characters that separates them away from humanity. Having the common interest of film grounds the characters as they have been set above those around them and brings a sense of normality into the documentary.
The crimes that Anwar has committed appears to be haunting him compared to fellow killers, how this is portrayed can make us question whether he actually is truly bearing the burden of murder. When Anwar is talking to Adi, he talks about how a specific method of killing haunts his dreams, Adi then mentions a neurologist for his troubles. In rejecting this we can question whether he really does care about how his past effects now. This can be compared to the scene in which he shows how he killed accused communists using a wire. He dances on the site in which he killed people, his performance during the documentary connotes different emotions towards his violent past.
The dream like scenes add a different tone to the documentary. Generally, The Act Of Killing has a dark tone due to the subject. During the dream scenes it comes across as the mass murders being celebrated. The girls dancing in bright coloured costumes throws off the topic. It could possibly connote the patriotism the main characters have as it appears to be traditional to Indonesia.
Im glad you chose to watch this interesting but disturbing documentary. You have given a good account of the documentary but going forward you need to give more contextual information to allow your reader to have a more solid understanding of the topics being discussed. Just as with Drama it is key to identify the genre and themes in order to aid the reader. This could also be strengthened by adding screen grabs to illustrate the examples that you have given. Always end you pieces with a sufficient summary / conclusion in order to show your findings and understanding of the topics.
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