Law History Political Violence Autumn Book Review Assignment Professor Stewart Motha Word Count Summary Indonesia East Timor 1965 With the instigation of governmental paramilitary force Indonesian Gangster Anwar Congo was responsible for the mass killing of thousands of communists and ethnic Chinese Joshua Oppenheimer in association with the Danish Institute of Film presents to us in his critically acclaimed documentary the Act of Killing a film in which Oppenheimer grants Anwar and his gangster comrades the opportunity to cinematically recreate the killing scenes to leave behind an accurate portrayal of this Indonesian conflict of the past for future generations Through the process of the documentary we begin to see the struggle of Anwar to come to terms with his terrible acts In the revisiting of these killing scenes Anwar subjects himself to the position of his victims through the pretence of artistic licence This powerful re enactment of Anwar s nightmarish deeds offers up to the audience the chance to see the political violence in action What culminates is a very powerful terrifying and sometimes somewhat surreal unfolding of the recreation of these historical events Overview In 2012 documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer in association with the Danish Film Institute and Final Cut for Real productions co directed the critically acclaimed The Act of Killing The documentary brings to light the largely forgotten military regime in 1960 s Indonesia where via the use of para military forces and Indonesian Gangsters the massacre and politicide of thousands of union communists and ethnic Chinese took place Oppenheimer s documentary centres around one Indonesian Gangster in particular Anwar Congo An infamous figure alongside his comrades was responsible for the deaths of possibly thousands of communists Oppenheimer offers Anwar and his gangster friends the opportunity to recreate their acts of killing by re enacting the historical scenes in whichever ways they wished documenting the sequential process
