Introductory Paragraph:

The film youve just watched is so unlike anything that you or I, typical consumers of media, have ever seen. You
may remember that at the end of Canto , we told you that before you pass through the !ates of "is, we were ta#ing
you on a $detour. In fact, Id argue that when watching The %ct of &illing, youre pulled into 'a vorte( of fever dreams)
that eventually deposits you in the very center of a nightmare, at the very bottom of *ell, where 'time ac+uires a
different role, as if you and the world had stopped breathing.) ,
-hen one of the writers of these guides first saw The Act of Killing, she was luc#y enough to attend the .id/%tlantic
region premiere in -ashington, ".C.0 unbe#nownst to her, the director, 1oshua 2ppenheimer, was also at the showing.
%s the lights were dimming, he welcomed the audience and told them that hed be happy to answer +uestions after the
film. The .y"ante team member and the rest of the audience were obviously e(cited / you could hear everyone
continuing to whisper to each other even as the first brightly colored scene had begun to roll out on the screen.
%fter %nwar finished retching and the credits rolled, the team member heard something shed never heard in a movie
theatre before. "uring the film, the audience had sighed, guffawed, and laughed / especially at *erman / but as the
film hit its final 34/minute stretch, people had grown +uiet and still. %nd then, as the visual litany of names and
unnamed contributors and artists continued, no one clapped 5 or coughed, or whispered, or scrunched up their
popcorn bags. Yours truly had never e(perienced such absolute, unforgettable, and commanding silence with so many
other people.
6he and the other team members have since rewatched The Act of Killing many times, and of the many bottomless
scenes, we want to begin our discussion with that final and terrible moment in which %nwar, who is standing on same
the roof where he first did the cha/cha for the camera, retches uncontrollably. %t the premiere, once the audience
members had recovered their voices, some of the first +uestions as#ed were for e(planations of that particular scene. I
remember wanting / needing / words. I couldnt stand to loo# at that scene in silence.
2ppenheimer began by telling us that in the village massacre scene, when one of the female actresses faints, all the
commotion you see around her are actually attempts to e(orcise ghosts of the victims that, according to Indonesian fol#
belief, were possessing her body. In that scene on the roof, %nwar was, in a certain sense, also possessed by some
sort of ghost or demon that had been haunting him the entire film 7screen shot / %nwar watching tv, empty space
behind him8. 1oshua told us that he believes that in that moment, %nwar, whos desperately trying to #eep it together
with words, suddenly begins to cho#e on the lie. Its irony at its purest0 ju(taposed against %nwars words is %nwars
body, which is telling a very different story. %t the end of the film, %nwar finds himself unable to e(punge the demons he
can no longer #eep out.
9ven after rewatching The %ct of &illing, I always find myself in the same position when the film ends0 that is, I have
nothing to say. 9ventually, the words return, and I can analy:e and write and discuss. ;ut theres something about that
final scene that silences me. The scene +uite obviously spea#s for itself. %nwar finally understands what he did to
another human being, and his words / his rationali:ations / fall apart. *e #nows that hes sinned. That understanding is
important, but I thin# that I also share the opinion of 9rrol .orris, who in a <IC9 interview ac#nowledges that we dont
really #now whats going on in %nwars mind. Is it true recognition= Is it still a performance for the camera=
I dont thin# the point is to pic# a side, to conclude that its genuine or its semblance. -hatever it was that was
coursing through %nwar, I #now that it silences me. I #now that Im recogni:ing something that Im afraid of. 1oshua
2ppenheimer said that he filmed %nwar for years, and during those years, %nwar was able to live with his words.
-hat words do I live with that are eating me alive=