The Look of Silence
Description
Joshua Oppenheimer’s groundbreaking documentary The Act of Killing (SFIFF 2013) confronted viewers with a moral vacuum in which the perpetrators of the politically motivated massacres that roiled Indonesia in 1965 were only too happy to reenact their crimes. In the director’s own words, “I felt I’d wandered into Germany 40 years after the Holocaust, only to find the Nazis still in power.” The Look of Silence widens the frame to include the victims’ perspective. Less a sequel than a companion piece, the film follows gentle optometrist Adi as he asks the killers about their crimes—among them, the vicious murder of his elder brother. The interviewees insist that “the past is past,” and yet it’s only too clear that the lack of accountability leaves the threat intact: one former killer darkly intimates that Adi’s actions could be understood as communist activity, while another—a legislator no less—is even more explicit in promising that further questioning will prompt more killing. Oppenheimer continues to test the limits of observational documentary in his aesthetic interpretation of trauma. A startling and grave work sure to be discussed for years to come, The Look of Silence bears witness to the intolerable absence of truth and reconciliation. —Max Goldberg
Joshua Oppenheimer is a documentary filmmaker and MacArthur “Genius” Fellow whose work explores the complex ethical and emotional ramifications of political violence. During the production of The Globalization Tapes, his 2003 documentary about labor practices in Sumatra, Oppenheimer began researching the massacres that followed Indonesian President Sukarno’s deposal in 1965. The resulting film, The Act of Killing (SFIFF 2013), won more than 70 awards and landed atop Sight and Sound’s poll of the best films of 2013.
Trailer
//player.vimeo.com/video/122138314?autoplay=1Film Details
Language Indonesian, Javanese
Original Language Title Senyap
Year 2014
Runtime 99
Country Denmark/Indonesia/Norway/Finland/United Kingdom
Director Joshua Oppenheimer
Producer Signe Byrge Sørensen
Editor Niels Pagh Andersen
Cinematographer Lars Skree