The Act of Killing is a documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and co-directed by Christine Cynn and an anonymous Indonesian. The film follows a group of retired Indonesian death squad leaders who were responsible for the deaths of thousands of suspected communists during the Indonesian killings of 1965–66. These killers are still celebrated as heroes in Indonesia, making them stunningly unrepentant in their actions.
Oppenheimer challenges these killers to act out their roles in these mass killings, producing a surreal and often disturbing cinematic journey. The film employs a mix of drama and documentary techniques, with the killers themselves improvising and directing much of what they are showing.
What emerges is a frightening portrait of a corrupt and morally ambiguous society, in which violent crime is celebrated and those who speak out against it are brutally silenced. The Act of Killing has been hailed as a groundbreaking work of cinema, exposing the darker sides of human nature and the horrors that are often buried beneath the surface of even seemingly peaceful societies.