Kino immer anders
The Act of Killing is a unique documentary that follows Anwar Congo, a member of the Pancasila Youth death squad, and his accomplices. As part of the film production, they are given equipment to recreate the war crimes they committed. This unsettling mix of interviews and self-reenactments shows the gangsters re-creating their actions from the 1960s, when they participated in the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese and union members accused of being communists. Attempting to portray their crimes as heroic, they create and star in a film about themselves. The contrast between the gruesome portrayals of torture and mass murder and the gangsters’ false justifications offers a chilling glimpse into their psyche.
With several realistic scenes of torture and murder, The Act of Killing is not suitable for all viewers. However, the film provides significant insight for those who can endure it. It not only sheds light on the history of the massacres committed by the Pancasila Youth, which are not widely known in the West, but also reveals how these men confront their delusions of grandeur and false self-image, shattering them through their actions.
Nicolas Pommerell
