+ Best Danish Movie of the Year
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| The transfixing poster for Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence |
The Look of Silence is the second chapter in the immense documentary endeavor of covering the repercussions of the 1965-66 genocide in Indonesia today, which started in The Act of Killing (2012).
While The Act of Killing followed some of the executioners of the mayhem and mass-killing, in which the country's supposed approximately 1 mil. Communists were rooted out by militia death squads with the Indonesian military's support, (as well as, it is indicated, the then Communism-warring US government), as they reenacted their torture and killings for a surrealistic film rendering, which they themselves were in charge of, The Look of Silence puts a reversed focus on the story:
Adi is a middle-aged man, father and husband, who has carried the burden of the genocide with him for all of his life, as his big brother Ramli was killed then as one of the approximately 1 mil. people that were murdered in the 'purge'. Now, Adi seeks answers from some of the responsible executioners who are old men today.
SPOILER The method of introduction which Adi uses to get to sit down with these aging individuals and talk about their dark past that most of them are against shedding fresh light on, is truly ingenious; through the man's profession (I suppose) as a traveling salesman of glasses, he measures their eyesight while bringing some measure of the clarity they all struggle against to the table, through his unflinching questions, his story, and, as the brilliant title captures, his look of silence.
While some of the executioners still feel guiltless and even (outwards) proud of their 'accomplishments', Adi's incriminating, just stare is impossible to escape, once they sit down with him, and it seems to point ahead to some of the coming, unavoidable divine justice that Adi's old mother also looks forward to. The bitter trauma of losing one's child to an act of unusually bestial and cruel violence has an undiminished range as a wound in her soul, and the footage that lays this and her still simmering anger bare is truly remarkable.
The Look of Silence is, like The Act of Killing, made by American documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer (The Entire History of the Louisiana Purchase (1998)), who resides in Denmark. Unlike on the preceding film, Oppenheimer has sole director's credit on The Look of Silence.
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| Adi's mother and father add a human aspect and an aspect of love to Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence that raises the film to hallowed ground |
The film consists of electric scenes of quiet confrontation with the murderers as well as intimate footage of Adi's own family; his ancient father and old but fresh-minded mother, his wife and his two wonderful kids. We witness the political horror stories that his kids have to listen to as the country's depraved official account of the killings in their school, which have become part of the country's polished, false historical narrative.
While the great, Oscar-nominated The Act of Killing lingered in the basest darkness in the souls of the executioners and bled out in surreality, The Look of Silence balances its gruesome annecdotal material with some lightness and humor from Adi's family, and remains in a totally sober and starkly realistic fix on its story throughout. The film has confrontation scenes that are magnetic and explosive like nothing I've ever seen before, as well as humorous and deeply touching scenes of the love, spirit and compassion that characterize Adi's family. Each confrontation ends differently, and one is especially a standout, as SPOILER the daughter of an executioner asks for forgiveness for her father's sins, while he is sitting next to her. Apart from this scene, the poor memories that characterize just about all the people in the film is staggering: Though many years have passed, and much is probably forgotten naturally, it seems certain also that a huge amount of detrimental denial and lying is present in the Indonesians we get to know in The Look of Silence.
The film is even visually stunning, with a great eye for nature and life in all of its forms, as well as for the sometimes menacing stillness of eternity.
Oppenheimer and Adi are men of incredible courage and spirit, and The Look of Silence deserves to be seen widely and win all the acclaim it can. It is a work of the highest possible integrity and profoundest value. - Don't miss it!
Related posts:
Joshua Oppenheimer: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
The Act of Killing/Jagal (2012) or, The Violence of Indonesia Part I
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| Joshua Oppenheimer with Adi Rukun at a screening of The Look of Silence |
Watch the trailer for the film with English subtitles here, and then do your best to get to see this film in a cinema, please!
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
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What do you think of The Look of Silence and The Act of Killing?
If you are Indonesian or know Indonesians, please tell of your/their experience of the film/s
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