The Act of Killing

POV Season 27
  • Feature Film
  • 2014
  • 120 Mins
Nominated for an Academy Award®, The Act of Killing is as dreamlike and terrifying as anything that Werner Herzog (one of the executive producers) could imagine. This film explores a horrifying era in Indonesian history and provides a window into modern Indonesia, where corruption reigns. Not only is the 1965 murder of an estimated one million people honored as a patriotic act, but the killers remain in power. In a mind-bending twist, death-squad leaders dramatize their brutal deeds in the style of the American westerns, musicals and gangster movies they love — and play both themselves and their victims. As their heroic facade crumbles, they come to question what they've done. Winner, 2014 BAFTA Film Award, Best Documentary.

Film Credits

  • Joshua Oppenheimer theactofkilling-joshua-oppenheimer-85x85.jpg