One of the most interesting documentaries I’ve seen is The Act of Killing (Oppenheimer, 2012). The film is centered on the Indonesian killings of 1965-66, specifically on Anwar Congo, one of the perpetrators of the killings. Anwar is invited to recount his killings through film, however he would like to do so. The film follows him as he creates this retrospective look at his atrocities. It’s incredibly moving and disturbing in parts, but fascinating nonetheless.
I watched this intrigued by the title and after doing so was left with goosebumps. Truly crazy how such a documentary can have an impact on people from just watching the trailer. I believe that to be the goal of documentaries even though directors and producers know that the pay off may not be what they exactly wanted. But if they are able touch people, and inspire people and have their documentary mean something to people then they have achieved their overall goal. One thing I found very interesting was at the end of this trailer it named one of the directors but the other was titled ” anonymous”. I find that to be very interesting in the subject matter that was involved in the documentary.