The Act of Killing

The Act of Killing

2012 documentary by Joshua Oppenheimer
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The Act of Killing
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The Act of Killing (Indonesian: Jagal, lit.'Butcher') is a 2012 documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, with Christine Cynn and an anonymous Indonesian co-directing. The film follows individuals who participated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, wherein alleged communists and people opposed to the New Order regime were tortured and killed, with the killers, many becoming gangsters, still in power throughout the country. The film was mostly filmed in Medan, North Sumatra, following the executioner Anwar Congo and his acquaintances as they, upon Oppenheimer's request, re-enact their killings and talk about their actions openly, also following Congo's psychological journey facing the topic.

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Directed by
Joshua Oppenheimer
Christine Cynn
Anonymous
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Produced by
Signe Byrge Sørensen
Anne Köhncke
Michael Uwemedimo
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Written by add_black written by
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Narrated by add_black narrated by
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Music by
Elin Øyen Vister, Karsten Fundal
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Cinematography
  • Anonymous
  • Carlos Arango de Montis
  • Lars Skree
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Edited by
  • Niels Pagh Andersen
  • Janus Billeskov Jansen
  • Mariko Montpetit
  • Charlotte Munch Bengtsen
  • Ariadna Fatjó-Vilas Mestre
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Production company
  • Final Cut for Real
  • DK
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Distributed by
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Release date
  • 31 August 2012 (2012-08-31) (Telluride)
  • 1 November 2012 (2012-11-01) (Indonesia)
  • 8 November 2012 (2012-11-08) (Denmark)
  • 28 June 2013 (2013-06-28) (UK)
  • 6 September 2013 (2013-09-06) (Norway)
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Running time
122 minutes (theatrical release)
159 minutes (Director's cut)
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Country
  • Denmark
  • Norway
  • United Kingdom
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Language
Indonesian
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Budget
$1 million
Box office
$722,714

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Anwar Congo: Imagine, in all this darkness, it's like we're living at the end of the world. We look around, there's only darkness. It's so very terrifying.
  • Some of the killers featured here are so-called 'movie gangsters' who said their murders had been inspired by their love of John Wayne, Marlon Brando, or Mafia and American B-movies.
  • Played for 52 weeks at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts from June 28th, 2013.
  • One of the films chosen for the 42nd annual New Directors/New Films showcase in March 2013, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
  • The project started focusing on the family of the victims, but a lot were arrested as Joshua Oppenheimer was doing the interviews with them. In that process he started meeting torturers, so he decided to refocus the story on them.
  • An early scene shows Pancasila Youth members collecting extortion money from several shop owners. It is not a re-enactment. During a masterclass at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on June 28th, 2014, director 'Joshua Oppenheimer (II)' claimed that he paid back the extortion victims in full with his own money, on the same day of the shoot. According to him, he would stay behind, under the false pretense of getting the shop owners to sign release forms, while his crew accompanied the Pancasila gangsters as they visited other shops.

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