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

Riveting!

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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

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, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$109,089

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$332,710

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anonymous,Britdoc Foundation,Final Cut for Real

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Short-listed for 'Best Documentary' (last 15 films) at the 88th Academy Awards 2016.

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Quotes

Himself, brother of murdered Ramli Rukun: Tell me about that madness.
Himself, former leader the village death squad: Some killed so many people who have gone mad. A man climbed a palm tree, every morning, to call for prayer. Killed too many people. There is only one way to avoid it. Drink the blood or go crazy. But if you drink blood, you can do anything.
Himself, brother of murdered Ramli Rukun: [Testing the eyeglasses] What do you think...
Himself, former leader the village death squad: Salty and sweet. The human blood.
Himself, brother of murdered Ramli Rukun: Pardon?
Himself, former leader the village death squad: Human blood is salty and sweet. I know from experience.

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Connections

Follows The Act of Killing (2012)

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Soundtracks

Rege Rege
(traditional)

User Reviews

More of the same

I don't feel as though this film does anything different than its predecessor. The issue at hand is no doubt important but I don't think I got anything out of this film that I didn't get from The Act of Killing. I understand that it is supposed to be a more personal view of the atrocities but it seems like there isn't much new information.

This is a review of the film on its own, not a review of the importance of the work that Oppenheimer is doing. I believe a film's importance and it's quality can be distinguished.