Returning to Indonesia where the beautiful landscapes and tropical climate mask the darkness of the countries past, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence once again seeks to explore the Indonesian genocide, this time focusing on a family of survivors who discover the nature of their son's murder during the communist purge that left over one million people extinguished from this earth. The family's young son, born after the genocide, is the focus of The Look of Silence, a man who is desperately seeking answers, questioning how everyone can live in a society where the victims of this monstrosity remain silent while those who committed the crimes remain in power, being celebrated as heroes for cleansing the nation of the communist threat. Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence is a quasi-sequel to The Act of Killing, focusing on the same subject matter while changing the perspective. Told very much through the eyes of this man who is seeking answers, The Look of Silence is a poetic tale of man's attempt to find some form of emotional closure. Interviewing many of the men who helped carry out this genocide, the film captures a family who is in search of some type of empathy from the men responsible for these crimes, men who show very little regret or take any responsibility for their actions, often hiding behind the veil of their government and/or religion. Similar to The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence is startling in its ability to capture the darkness of man, as the film depicts in grave detail the horror man is capable through the crimes committed during the communist purge. Hiding behind the veil of politics and religion the film exposes what men are capable of when driven by misguided beliefs, which essentially gives them the ability to cleanse their souls of any wrongdoing, as they've effectively brainwashed themselves into believing all they did was follow orders. I particularly found it fascinating how so many individuals, both victim and prosecutor, verbosely shared the option of not looking at or living in the past, as if the Indonesian regime has created a culture predicated on this idea, as if to protect itself from citizens remembering the murders and mass killings committed by their own government. Being from the victims perspective, The Look of Silence has a quiet sense of danger throughout its running time, as the main subject of Oppenheimer's documentary interviews men responsible for the mass killings, even men who are still in a position of political power. Given the film's running time of 100 minutes and lack of surrealist sensibilities, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence is a more accessible film than its counterpart, The Act of Killing, doing enough different than its predecessor by focusing on one family, who are victims of the mass killings of Indonesia. The Look of Silence provides a rare, documented story of survivors of genocide confronting their relatives murderers, being a harrowing journey full of fascinating observations about man, politics, humanity, and our propensity for violence.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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