MOVIE · 2012

The Act of Killing

CrimeDocumentaryWar117 min

In Indonesia, former death squad leaders are asked to restage the mass killings they carried out during the 1965-66 anti-communist purge, using the movie genres they admire. Anwar Congo is one of the film’s central figures, a onetime executioner who revisits his crimes with startling openness; Herman Koto, his longtime associate, joins the reenactments and the public pageantry around them. As staged scenes, interviews, and everyday life begin to overlap, the documentary follows how these men still present themselves as heroes in a country where the perpetrators remain visible, connected, and largely untouched.