THE PLOT THUS FAR
This chilling and inventive documentary, executive-produced by Errol Morris (The Fog of War) and Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man), examines a country where death squad leaders are celebrated as heroes, and are challenged to reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of the American movies they love. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit. THE ACT OF KILLING is an unprecedented film that, according to The Los Angeles Times, could well change how you view the documentary form.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Act of Killing” brought out that sort of I’m going to hell laughter that makes me cackle like Cesar Romero after doing a bump. I didn’t find anything presented here to be humorous, but there is something about the irony of remembered victimization of a poor people. The filter of nostalgia when letting an oppressor talk about the matter leads to some truly screwed up scenarios. Anwar Congo comes across as sympathetic and part of a proud tradition in Indonesia. Then, the talk of mass murder starts.
Director Joshua Oppenheimer has stumbled onto something amazing here. The use of color, pageantry and moments of captured oddity presents a wonderland of mayhem. Towards the end of the film, when you realize that the tragedies of the past will never get true vengeance…you feel cheated. However, it appears that all of the later generations have moved on. That is if you can get past the dude in drag having his “Tin Drum” moment.
The Blu-Ray comes with two cuts of the film, digital copy, interviews, featurettes, deleted scenes, booklet and commentary. The 1080p transfer is pretty solid for a documentary. Plus, the DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track allows for the stories of true horror to ring true. Plus, there’s a nice amount of ambient noise. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: 01/07/2014
