The Look of Silence-2015
Director Joshua Oppenheimer
Scott’s Review #396
Reviewed April 18, 2016
Grade: B+
An extremely grim and depressing 2015 documentary, The Look of Silence is a companion piece to 2013’s The Act of Killing.
Both focus on the brutal Indonesian genocide of 1965-1966, in which an estimated one million people were exterminated.
The documentary tells of the effects on one of the families who survived, who now must coexist in the same village as the killers, who remain unpunished because of government corruption.
They are still in power.
The documentary is cleverly put together as the central figure watches what appear to be outtakes from the related Act of Killing on television, and the story is manipulated so some of the killers don’t realize they are being filmed for that purpose.
The main point of view of the film comes from a middle-aged Indonesian man, peacefully living with his wife and daughter, as well as tending to his very elderly parents; the father is a torture victim and quite frail, and appears to suffer from dementia.
The father is rail-thin, and the mother cares for him. Their life is tough.
For protection, the documentary does not identify the middle-aged man.
Through conversation with his mother, we learn that his brother (their son) was one of the “communists” or leftists who were led to the nearby Snake River, tortured, and eventually murdered and thrown into the river.
The mother reveals that by some miracle, the middle-aged man was conceived shortly after his brother was killed, thereby saving the parents from suicide because of their grief.
The middle-aged man, under the guise of fitting patients with eyeglasses, goes from murderer to murderer (all still alive, very old, and living in the town) and politely quizzes them on their involvement in the Indonesian Massacre.
It is unknown whether the middle-aged man is, in fact, a Doctor, or if it is merely a ruse. Interspersed throughout, the interview clips of the murderers on television proudly describing their feats are shown.
The Look of Silence is a true downer but shockingly realistic, sad, painful, and eye-opening.
Unlike many documentaries, we don’t see repeated clips of the 1960s events; the story stays in the here and now.
The audience uses their imagination to imagine what happened. Powerful stuff.
In the videos of the killers, they describe in brutal detail how they killed their victims, and it is quite sickening to watch.
Two men proudly reminisce about chopping off a woman’s breast, comparing the ruined flesh to an open coconut, or slicing off a man’s penis.
Others tell of drinking the blood of the victims.
It’s painful to realize this isn’t some horror film, but a real-life event.
Quite dumbfounding to me was that little or no remorse was shown when the middle-aged man questioned the killers in the present time.
Some shrugged off their involvement, some got hostile, and some denied it.
Some, now quite feeble, were accompanied by younger family members unaware of their father’s or grandfather’s past doings.
Some appeared quite upset.
The documentary is not filled with spliced-together archives, flashy lights, or graphics. It is slow-paced and plodding. Some may find it too slow.
The title, The Look of Silence, is perplexing and doesn’t seem to relate to the documentary’s subject, so I am not sure why it has that title.
But that is merely an aside.
As much as citizens of the United States complain and stress about the political state of affairs or financial matters, we have it quite good, and this painful documentary reminds a of that.
The Look of Silence (2015) displays the evil of human beings in the recent past. They show no remorse.
In a world filled with ISIS, the documentary is a scary reminder that something like this can easily happen again.
This is a sad and morbid reality, and this film will stick with you for some time.
Oscar Nominations: Best Documentary Feature
Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win-Best Documentary Feature (won)