'Act of Killing' Director Hopes US Will Admit Role in 1965 Killings
Director Joshua Oppenheimer poses for a portrait Feb. 13, 2014 in Washington, DC. (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)
Washington. Watching former gangsters and paramilitary leaders proudly reenact scenes from Indonesia's military-led mass killings of 1965-66 in the Oscar-nominated documentary, "The Act of Killing," it's easy to forget the role of outside countries.
"It was like I had wandered into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust only to find the Nazis were still in power," director Joshua Oppenheimer told IPS in an exclusive interview.
But while US covert support for the deadly crackdown that killed at least half a million people is not the focus of his film, Oppenheimer hopes the powerful country will at least admit its role.
"There was lots of foreign support for the genocide and that is used as an excuse not to apologize," he said during a recent visit to Washington.
"It's my hope that the US will also take responsibility for its part so the Indonesian government can come to terms with the past and we can move on to reconciliation and healing," he added.
While the US has not formally admitted to that part, declassified documents show the CIA directly assisted the Indonesian army in its quest to eliminate the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) — killing anyone accused of links in the process — after a failed coup attempt.
"The simplest way to put it is that in the month leading up to the events of Sep. 30, 1965 the US sought through covert operations to provoke an armed clash between the Indonesian army and the communist movement in the hope that it would eliminate the PKI," said Bradley Simpson, who heads a project at the National Security Archive that declassified key US government documents concerning Indonesia and East Timor during the reign of General Suharto.
"Perhaps most important is the fact that the [Lyndon] Johnson administration sent clear signals that they enthusiastically supported an attempt to destroy the communists from the bottom up knowing full well that this would lead to mass violence," he told IPS.
But while Oppenheimer may have produced one of the most unique documentaries of all time, he had initially set out to film a different story in Indonesia.
While documenting a community of exploited plantation workers in 2001, Oppenheimer, then in his late twenties, witnessed how they were bullied by the "Pancasila Youth," a gangster-led paramilitary organization that used death squads and continues to repress the population to this day.
After victims of the genocide were intimidated into not talking to him by order of the military — the leaders of which proudly display their brute hold on the population and corruption on camera — some survivors urged Oppenheimer to interview the perpetrators instead.
"I was afraid at first, but after I got over that fear I realized that everyone I interviewed was boastful about even the most horrible details of the killings, which they described with smiles on their faces," he said.
In the eight years that it took Oppenheimer to complete "The Act of Killing," which was executive produced by internationally known directors Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, he only discovered his main character, Anwar Congo — the founder of a right-wing paramilitary organization that grew out of the death squads — in the final year of filming.
Anwar, who describes torturing and murdering suspected communists "like we were killing happily," acts as though he is the director of the documentary as he collaborates with friends and colleagues to recreate scenes from his memory.
"I felt his pain was close to the surface, so I lingered on him," said Oppenheimer.
But while Anwar seems haunted by his past, especially by a recurring nightmare of a severed head with eyes he failed to close staring at him, he ultimately reverts to the excuse that he was just following orders.
"I don't think Congo saw this as his redemption," said Oppenheimer. "He doesn't recognize in a cognizant way that what he did was wrong."
After Anwar watched the film "he was very moved and emotional and then he pulled himself together and said, 'this film shows what it's like to be me,'" Oppenheimer told IPS.
"His conscience was guiding the process and it sounds very complex but for him it was simply about showing me how he killed," he said.
Adi Zulkadry, a fellow executioner who warns Anwar that the material in the film could be used against them, seems to have a deeper understanding of the magnitude of his actions but also justifies them as a consequence of war.
Pressed to respond to the fact that what he did is described by the Geneva Conventions as "war crimes," Adi says he doesn't "necessarily agree with those international laws."
"War crimes are defined by the winners… Americans killed the Indians. Has anyone punished them for that? Punish them!" he proclaims.
But while Adi denies the value of Indonesia coming to terms with its past by admitting that what happened was a genocide, Oppenheimer's film may be aiding the process — it has been screened thousands of times in Indonesia, and is available for free online.
"The Act of Killing" was also recently shown at the US Library of Congress.
Senator Tom Udall of the foreign relations committee, who introduced the film to a group of senators, told US News and World Report that, "The United States government should be totally transparent on what it did and what it knew at the time, and they should be disclosing what happened here."
But it remains to be seen whether Washington will change a policy of denial.
"Fifty years is long enough for both the US and Indonesia not to call it a genocide," said Oppenheimer.
Inter-Press Servic
'The Act of Killing' Just the Start of a 'Long Road' to Addressing 1965 Killings: Co-Director
Jakarta. The Indonesian co-director of "The Act of Killing," hopes the Oscar-nominated documentary will continue to inspire conversation about the 1965 communist killings, calling the controversial film "a gift for the Indonesian people," after it failed to win an Academy Award on Monday morning.
"We made the movie because we were pessimistic that there would be any action acted upon the case," the anonymous co-director told the Jakarta Globe. "But we were also optimistic that the people finally want to re-learn their history and identity … We hope that the coming movies, discussions and anything else will bring change in the society. They may not be able to change the conditions, but we're sure they can change the society."
The co-director was unfazed by the film's Oscar snub, explaining via Twitter that documentary was only the start of a "long road" to addressing the realities of the 1965 massacre — which left an estimated 500,000 people dead in a wave of anti-communist violence. The documentary has prompted a response from the central government, and discussion among human rights activists and public officials over a period of history long obscured by decades of New Order-era propaganda.
The film, made by US director Joshua Oppenheimer and an anonymous Indonesian crew, has already won a host of awards, including best documentary at the 2014 BAFTA awards. But for the co-director, who remained anonymous out of fear of retaliation over the film's content, the documentary's impact in Indonesia remained more important than any award, he said.
"Each nomination and award that we won has helped us to open up a wider discussion on human rights and impunity," the co-director said. "Even though we didn't win [the Oscar], we strongly believe that the conversation on this issue will still be there among the people.
"The movie is disturbing at some points. It is not an answer, but rather a question … for the viewers. Until there is a real answer and action [from the central government], the question will still haunt many people."
"The Act of Killing" received a Best Documentary Feature nomination at the 86th Annual Academy Awards but lost to director Morgan Neville's "Twenty Feet From Stardom," which spotlights the US music industry's unsung backup singers. The documentary may not have won the Academy Award, but the directors continued to receive accolades from their peers on Monday.
"Special salute to @Anonymous_TAoK. If he didn't need to stay anonymous, today he'd be the first Indonesian sitting in that Oscar audience," tweeted Daniel Ziv, the director of "Jalanan," referring to the Twitter account used by the Indonesian co-director.
The film, which was not submitted to be shown in Indonesia, was posted for free download for Indonesian viewers. A complete copy of the documentary was also posted to YouTube, where it has received more 130,000 views, the co-director said. He is now working with Oppenheimer on a second film about the purge, this one focusing on the victims. The documentary, tentatively titled "The Look of Silence," was shot at the same time as "The Act of Killing," and is currently in the editing stages.
The co-director expects "The Look of Silence," to be released by the end of the year.
"The movie was shot at the same time as 'The Act of Killing'," he said. "It will bring up the same issue during the same time frame in South Sumatra."
The co-director thanked the survivors of the 1965 killings for their help in making the film in a tweet on Monday morning.
"The Act of Killing is a gift for the Indonesian people. The victim's family, survivors and the viewers are our motivation to make this movie," he tweeted.
"We owe them gratitude and support, which we can never pay back," the co-director continued. "Thank you for everything."
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