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

According to Joshua Oppenheimer, The Look of Silence has been screened over 3,500 times to more than 300,000 people in Indonesia.

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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

Featured in The Oscars (2016)

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Soundtracks

Lukisan Malam
music by E. Sambayon & lyrics by Sakti Alamsyah
performed by Sam Saimun
courtesy of Irama Records

User Reviews

"Look of Silence" is a great title for this movie, for many reasons

The Look of Silence is such a brilliant title for this movie. For one, it's a good description of Adi's reaction when hearing about the murder of his brother. (And it's oddly fitting that he is an optometrist). It's also a description of the response they get from the perpetrators, refusing to show any guilt or remorse, preferring to pretend that it never happened. And that seems to be what Oppenheimer is tapping into in Indonesia, the look of silence, and what really lies behind it.

This is definitely a companion piece to the previous "Act of Killing". Not because it does not stand on its own, which it does, but because they stand so much stronger together. Each documentary has an unique perspective on some mutual themes. Especially guilt and remorse.

It's amazing how it all comes together in a movie like this. Oppenheimer must have done a lot of work for this. Adi is such a good subject for a documentary like this, and having him being willing to explore this dark side of his nation's history, and openly talk to the people who brutally murdered his brother - it's such an unique way to explore all of this. And Adi does a really good job with it all.