The Look of Silence (2014)

A family that survived the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.

Director:

Joshua Oppenheimer

Stars:

Adi Rukun, M.Y. Basrun, Amir Hasan

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 48 wins & 42 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Adi Rukun	...	Self - brother of murdered Ramli Rukun
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
M.Y. Basrun	...	Self - former commander of a civilian militia
Amir Hasan	...	Self - former leader of death squad (archive footage)
Inong	...	Self - former leader the village death squad
Kemat	...	Self - survivor from Snake River massacre
Joshua Oppenheimer	...	Self (voice) (as Josh)
Amir Siahaan	...	Self - former commander of Snake River death squads
Ted Yates	...	Self - reporter, NBC News (archive footage)

Storyline

An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the "Communist" purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic details of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers' family members about what happened in the past - much to Adi's disappointment.

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Plot Keywords:

torture | ophthalmologist | genocide | indonesia | self justification | 

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Taglines:

Profound, Visionary, Stunning.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG - 13 for thematic material involving disturbing graphic descriptions of atrocities and inhumanity

Did You Know?

Trivia

Adi was given a camera by the director to shoot scenes or memories to inspire the narrative of the movie. The final scene of Adi's father not knowing where he is was one of the scenes shot by Adi which made it into the film.

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Quotes

Himself, former commander of a civilian militia: I'm not Rambo. I was Secretary General of the Komando Aksi.
Himself, brother of murdered Ramli Rukun: Or is it so great a crime that you did not want to admit?
Himself, former commander of a civilian militia: No, I do not think that's great.
Himself, brother of murdered Ramli Rukun: But a million people died...
Himself, former commander of a civilian militia: That's politics. Politics is the process of achieving your ideals.
[laughing]
Himself, former commander of a civilian militia: In many ways...

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Connections

Edited into P.O.V.: The Look of Silence (2016)

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Soundtracks

Rege Rege
(traditional)

User Reviews

Unfathomable

It's hard to "review" a movie like "The Look of Silence". You don't really watch it and evaluate it like you do anything else. You bear witness.

I have never been able to write anything about its prequel, "The Act of Killing". I broke my rule of reviewing every movie I watch on here because I just wasn't up to the task. Watching that movie, and "The Look of Silence" to a slightly lesser extent, was like being dosed with heroin and hit with a sledgehammer. The usual "disturbing" movie, documentary or otherwise, has an impact that can be shaken off eventually. With "The Act of Killing", I never really felt it, but I knew it was there. It took something from me. The impact bled through into my day to day life. It wasn't just like a bad dream. It was real.

Here is "The Look of Silence". It gives a different side of the story that "Act of Killing" presented, through the son of survivors of the Indonesian genocide. He learns about the fate of his older brother, killed two years before his birth. Then he confronts some of the killers and their families, though these meetings don't go as you might expect, especially for the son, Adi.

This movie really should be watched alongside "The Act of Killing". Whereas "The Look of Silence" is no less horrible in its descriptions of actual murder, I have a feeling that it is the goodness of Adi and his family you will remember.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Denmark Indonesia Finland Norway UK Israel France USA Germany Netherlands

Language:

Indonesian

Release Date:

17 July 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

A csend képe

Filming Locations:

Indonesia

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,616, 19 July 2015

Gross USA:

$109,089

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$157,857

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anonymous, Britdoc Foundation, Final Cut for Real

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Color:

Color