Tue April 15, 2014
The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer (Denmark/Norway/U.K., 2012)
SEE EVENT DETAILS
at Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
(see times)
Director ’s Cut!
2014 Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature
“I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade…It is unprecedented in the history of cinema.”—Werner Herzog
“I know a good location for a torture scene,” says an aging movie buff early in The Act of Killing. Like a demonic location scout, this self-professed gangster and notorious death-squad chief leads the way to a site of atrocity haunted by the ghosts of his victims. At once a horrifying history lesson, a riveting portrait of unrepentant evil, and a shocking treatise on the widespread influence and malleable meanings of American cinema, Joshua Oppenheimer’s flabbergasting documentary recounts the Indonesian genocide of the mid-1960s, when paramilitary forces obliterated millions of suspected communists, left-wing intellectuals, and other enemies of the fascist state. A handful of perpetrators, never brought to justice, recall the good old days of moviegoing and murder, claiming to have modeled their sadistic behavior on the violent American gangster flicks they watched at local theaters. Hoping to rewrite their corruption-riddled country’s past while glorifying their own psychopathy, the men brazenly reenact their heinous crimes in a film-within-the-film, donning costumes and starring in flamboyant productions in which fact and fantasy queasily merge. Oppenheimer and his crew—many of whom must remain anonymous to ensure their safety—have created an astonishing work.
—Steven Jenkins, SFIFF
• Photographed by Carlos Arango de Montis, Lars Skree. (159 mins, Color, DCP, From Cinephil)
show less
2014 Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature
“I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade…It is unprecedented in the history of cinema.”—Werner Herzog
“I know a good location for a torture scene,” says an aging movie buff early in The Act of Killing. Like a demonic location scout, this self-professed gangster and notorious death-squad chief leads the way to a site of atrocity haunted by the ghosts of his victims. At once a horrifying history lesson, a riveting portrait of unrepentant evil, and a shocking treatise on the widespread influence and malleable meanings of American cinema, Joshua Oppenheimer’s flabbergasting documentary recounts the Indonesian genocide of the mid-1960s, when paramilitary forces obliterated millions of suspected communists, left-wing intellectuals, and other enemies of the fascist state. A handful of perpetrators, never brought to justice, recall the good old days of moviegoing and murder, claiming to have modeled their sadistic behavior on the violent American gangster flicks they watched at local theaters. Hoping to rewrite their corruption-riddled country’s past while glorifying their own psychopathy, the men brazenly reenact their heinous crimes in a film-within-the-film, donning costumes and starring in flamboyant productions in which fact and fantasy queasily merge. Oppenheimer and his crew—many of whom must remain anonymous to ensure their safety—have created an astonishing work.
—Steven Jenkins, SFIFF
• Photographed by Carlos Arango de Montis, Lars Skree. (159 mins, Color, DCP, From Cinephil)
Director ’s Cut!
2014 Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature
“I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade…It is unprecedented in the history of cinema.”—Werner Herzog
“I know a good location for a torture scene,” says an aging movie buff early in The Act of Killing. Like a demonic location scout, this self-professed gangster and notorious death-squad chief leads the way to a site of atrocity haunted by the ghosts of his victims. At once a horrifying history lesson, a riveting portrait of unrepentant evil, and a shocking treatise on the widespread influence and malleable meanings of American cinema, Joshua Oppenheimer’s flabbergasting documentary recounts the Indonesian genocide of the mid-1960s, when paramilitary forces obliterated millions of suspected communists, left-wing intellectuals, and other enemies of the fascist state. A handful of perpetrators, never brought to justice, recall the good old days of moviegoing and murder, claiming to have modeled their sadistic behavior on the violent American gangster flicks they watched at local theaters. Hoping to rewrite their corruption-riddled country’s past while glorifying their own psychopathy, the men brazenly reenact their heinous crimes in a film-within-the-film, donning costumes and starring in flamboyant productions in which fact and fantasy queasily merge. Oppenheimer and his crew—many of whom must remain anonymous to ensure their safety—have created an astonishing work.
—Steven Jenkins, SFIFF
• Photographed by Carlos Arango de Montis, Lars Skree. (159 mins, Color, DCP, From Cinephil)
read more
2014 Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary Feature
“I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade…It is unprecedented in the history of cinema.”—Werner Herzog
“I know a good location for a torture scene,” says an aging movie buff early in The Act of Killing. Like a demonic location scout, this self-professed gangster and notorious death-squad chief leads the way to a site of atrocity haunted by the ghosts of his victims. At once a horrifying history lesson, a riveting portrait of unrepentant evil, and a shocking treatise on the widespread influence and malleable meanings of American cinema, Joshua Oppenheimer’s flabbergasting documentary recounts the Indonesian genocide of the mid-1960s, when paramilitary forces obliterated millions of suspected communists, left-wing intellectuals, and other enemies of the fascist state. A handful of perpetrators, never brought to justice, recall the good old days of moviegoing and murder, claiming to have modeled their sadistic behavior on the violent American gangster flicks they watched at local theaters. Hoping to rewrite their corruption-riddled country’s past while glorifying their own psychopathy, the men brazenly reenact their heinous crimes in a film-within-the-film, donning costumes and starring in flamboyant productions in which fact and fantasy queasily merge. Oppenheimer and his crew—many of whom must remain anonymous to ensure their safety—have created an astonishing work.
—Steven Jenkins, SFIFF
• Photographed by Carlos Arango de Montis, Lars Skree. (159 mins, Color, DCP, From Cinephil)
show less
Date/Times:
Pacific Film Archive (PFA) Theater
2575 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94720
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