---
title: "The Act of Killing"
year: 2012
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing"
fi1m_id: "the-act-of-killing"
imdb_id: "tt2375605"
tmdb_id: 123678
wikidata_id: "Q7712287"
fi1m_score: 88
critics_score: 91
critics_reviews: 14
published: "2026-09-15"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:03.916475+00:00"
region: "ID"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Act of Killing (2012)

Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer · 2h 39m · Documentary, History

## Identity

The Act of Killing

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** the-act-of-killing
- **IMDb ID:** tt2375605
- **TMDB ID:** 123678
- **Wikidata ID:** Q7712287
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/123678, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7712287

**Fi1m score: 88** · Critics 91 from 14 reviews

*In a sentence:* The killers are delighted to be making a film, which is the first thing to make us feel sick

> Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentary lets killers stage their own crimes, and their enthusiasm is more frightening than any accusation. We recommend it strongly, with reservations about how little history it supplies outside their accounts.

## Synopsis

Anwar Congo, an executioner in 1965, takes part in a documentary about the mass killings in Indonesia and the people who carried them out. Director Joshua Oppenheimer asks the perpetrators to restage their crimes using film genres they choose themselves. Congo appears alongside fellow executioner Adi Zulkadry and gangster and paramilitary leader Herman Koto. Their reconstructions bring memories of killing together with the conventions of screen entertainment. As the men arrange how their actions will appear on camera, the film examines their accounts of the past and the society in which they remain unpunished.

## Review

*The Act of Killing* is a disturbing documentary we strongly recommend, though it leaves important questions about the history unanswered. Joshua Oppenheimer approaches the Indonesian mass killings of 1965 by asking perpetrators to restage their crimes in film genres of their choosing. The offer gives them considerable freedom to present themselves as they wish. It also gives us a way to see how they understand what they did, and how readily they can turn it into entertainment.

Anwar Congo, an executioner in 1965, is the central presence, and the film’s attention to him is both compelling and uncomfortable. These men have remained unpunished, so their willingness to take part matters beyond their individual vanity. The participants include Syamsul Arifin, governor of North Sumatra, and newspaper publisher Ibrahim Sinik. Their presence broadens the film’s concern to a society in which the perpetrators can speak without the expectation of being held to account.

Cinematographers Carlos Arango De Montis, Lars Skree and a colleague credited as Anonymous let the Hollywood-style reconstructions occupy the screen as performances. We can see the kinds of films the men want to make out of their crimes, rather than merely hear them describe the idea. We were horrified by their eagerness to turn murder into screen entertainment. The images make that enthusiasm difficult to dismiss as mere talk; it has become something the men are prepared to enact.

Nils Pagh Andersen and his fellow editors have a difficult task: giving these self-directed re-enactments enough time without simply surrendering the film to their makers. At 159 minutes, the sustained attention can be exhausting, and a little less of it would make the point just as clearly. Yet the duration also prevents us from treating the perpetrators as a passing spectacle. That persistence helps us notice the effort they put into arranging how their crimes will be seen.

The serious limitation is the historical context. Oppenheimer concentrates so closely on the perpetrators’ imaginations that anyone seeking a fuller explanation of the Indonesian killings will need another account. The focus is understandable, and the attention to how these men describe themselves yields disturbing evidence of their self-delusion. Still, it leaves too much unexplained about the circumstances that enabled them to act and protected them afterwards.

A documentary about mass murder can make it easy to feel safely unlike the people responsible. Oppenheimer gives us men who understand the appeal of a story and want the camera to like them. We recognise that wish, which is uncomfortable, but recognising a human trait should not be confused with forgiving a crime. His approach makes our interest in Congo troubling: we keep watching a man whose opportunity to fashion his own screen appearance depends on the killings he is reconstructing.

Give it an evening when you can talk afterwards. The killers’ enthusiasm for the camera is difficult to put aside once the film has finished, and we would allow some time before bed. This is not one to start when you are already tired.

*Fi1m score 88, published 15 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics respond with strong admiration to Oppenheimer’s disturbing documentary about perpetrators of Indonesian mass killings restaging their crimes. Praise centres on the decision to let the killers devise their own cinematic reconstructions, exposing self-delusion, impunity and the persistence of political corruption. The reviews repeatedly describe the results as surreal and difficult to watch. Many find that the mixture of fantasy, horror and dark humour opens up questions about history that a conventional documentary might struggle to ask.

The disagreement concerns the method’s ethics and what it leaves unexplained. The New Yorker questions the wisdom of the reconstructions while acknowledging the persistent questions they raise about evil. Sight and Sound offers a sharper dissent, challenging the lack of historical context and production detail, and raising concerns about potentially manipulative editing. Admiration is widespread, then, but the reservations concern how the film reaches its audience, not simply how upsetting it is.

## Straight answers

**Is The Act of Killing worth watching?**

*The Act of Killing* is worth watching for anyone prepared to sit through 159 minutes of unpunished killers cheerfully restaging their crimes, and we scored it 88. Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary is disturbing and strongly recommended, though it supplies little history outside the perpetrators' own accounts. Give it an evening when you can talk about it afterwards, not one when you are already tired.

**How long is The Act of Killing, and what is it rated?**

*The Act of Killing* runs 2h 39m. It is a documentary and history film.

**Where can I watch The Act of Killing in Indonesia?**

*The Act of Killing* is not on any streaming or rental service in Indonesia at the moment. It is available in 14 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is The Act of Killing, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Act of Killing* is a 15 certificate in the UK, and what disturbs is not gore but the delight with which real killers re-enact their murders in Hollywood genres of their choosing. There is no on-screen violence in the fictional sense; the horror is in the men's eagerness to turn mass killing into entertainment. It is not for children, and older teenagers will need someone to talk to afterwards.

**How does The Act of Killing compare to The Look of Silence?**

*The Act of Killing* is the louder and more exhausting of Joshua Oppenheimer's two films on the Indonesian killings, and [*The Look of Silence*](https://film.one/film/the-look-of-silence) is the better one. The first watches perpetrators stage their crimes with relish; the second sends a quiet optometrist to sit with the men who murdered his brother and waits. The companion is calmer, cuts deeper, and its patience with one frail old man is hard to watch.

**What should I watch after The Act of Killing?**

After *The Act of Killing*, try [*The Look of Silence*](https://film.one/film/the-look-of-silence) (2014, Fi1m 87): Oppenheimer approaches the same history through a survivor’s family, with devastating restraint. Then [*The Conformist*](https://film.one/film/the-conformist) (1970, Fi1m 87): Political violence and the desire to belong meet in meticulously arranged images; and [*Night and Fog*](https://film.one/film/night-and-fog) (1956, Fi1m 91): Alain Resnais confronts atrocity through places and records, with little room for consolation.

### Reviews we read (18)

- **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/5/5): Oppenheimer's film is a Brechtian socio-political marvel that provocatively mixes movie romance with genocide horror by letting the unrepentant killers re-enact their crimes. Its slippery, empathetic approach creates high drama and profound questions about memory, cinema and complicity. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-act-of-killing)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (5/5): Oppenheimer's powerful and original film succeeds by focusing on the killers' reconstructions of their crimes, capturing the distortion of meanings and the lingering corruption of the past in the present. It throws up extreme characters and leaves the viewer with endless provocative questions. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-act-of-killing)
- **Evening Standard** (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a devastating, surreal must-see that shows perpetrators of Indonesian genocide re-enacting their crimes on camera. It is praised for exposing the killers' self-delusion and revealing uncomfortable truths about human nature. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-act-of-killing-film-review-8677957.html)
- **Screen Daily** (90/100, inferred): A surreal, chilling and unprecedented examination of atrocity and accountability that captures a mass murderer's conscience and its evolution in a revelatory way. The killers' Hollywood-style re-enactments of their 1965 crimes make for powerful creative political documentary filmmaking. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-act-of-killing/5046417.article)
- **Slant Magazine**, Andrew Schenker (90/100, inferred): Oppenheimer's extraordinary documentary uses film as a medium for historical reckoning by having the killers direct their own reenactments. The approach leads to surreal and harrowing moments that force confrontation with the past, culminating in a powerful verité breakdown that redeems the project. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-act-of-killing/)
- **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (90/100, inferred): This pungent, surreal documentary of mass murder in Sixties Indonesia is essential viewing and a bold reckoning with Indonesia’s horrific past. It asks the perpetrators to demonstrate what they did, culminating in an unforgettable final moment of suppressed horror and guilt. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10146136/The-Act-of-Killing-review.html)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (90/100, inferred): The film is one of the most lucid portraits of evil ever seen, bizarre yet gripping as it lets unpunished executioners reenact their crimes in movie genres of their choosing. It powerfully exposes the perpetrators' self-delusions and lack of remorse while revealing universal truths about evil. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2013/07/movie-review-the-act-of-killing.html)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (85/100, inferred): The film is a remarkable and at times unwatchably explicit documentary in which unrepentant perpetrators of 1960s Indonesian mass killings eagerly re-enact their atrocities. It functions as a radical dive into history, grabbing the past in a way a conventional documentary would not. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/27/the-act-of-killing-review)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the documentary hard to describe and difficult to watch, focusing on perpetrators restaging their crimes in bizarre ways. He questions the wisdom of the approach but notes it raises persistent questions about evil and impunity. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/the-act-of-killing-2)
- **Film Comment**, Stuart Klawans: The critic praises the film's innovative approach to documenting genocide by exploring the killers' fantasies and inner world rather than standard forensic or moral travelogue formats. It singles out the emotional shift toward pity for perpetrator Anwar Congo as a form of moral retribution achieved through the filmmaking process. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-executioners-song/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Tony Rayns: The critic argues the film is overpraised and questions its lack of historical context, production details, and potentially manipulative editing of the killers' re-enactments. He acknowledges its disturbing power but sees it as a flawed Western footnote to Indonesian filmmakers' work on the same history. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/review-act-killing)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Stephen Dalton: The critic finds the unorthodox documentary brave, provocative, and imaginative in its approach to Indonesian mass executions. It offers a fascinating look at the corrosive aftereffects of genocide and political corruption through the killers' self-directed reenactments. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/act-killing-berlin-review-419597/)
- **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (Critic's Pick): The critic praises the film's inventive and profoundly upsetting approach to documenting the Indonesian massacres through the killers' re-enactments. He highlights its dogged inquiry into historical atrocities and the unsettling blend of horror and dark humor. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/act-of-killing-re-enacts-indonesian-massacres.html)
- **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (A+): The review describes the film as a shattering, intensely unsettling and riveting masterpiece of visceral power, praising its exploration of evil, moral apocalypse, and the cathartic yet destructive nature of storytelling through the killers' reenactments. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-the-act-of-killing-is-a-constantly-astounding-terrifying-masterpiece-20130717/)
- **The Skinny**, Philip Concannon (5/5): The critic highlights the film's creative and powerful exploration of the moral implications of murder through the killers' reenactments in cinematic styles. It singles out Anwar Congo's journey toward confronting the gravity of his crimes as particularly effective. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-act-of-killing)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A): The critic calls the film a mind-bending picture that is deeply disturbing, darkly comic, and endlessly fascinating, using media to explore how killers created by violent entertainment might confront their actions. It focuses on perpetrators like Anwar Congo in a surreal culture where mass murderers are celebrated. [Read](https://collider.com/act-of-killing-review/)
- **Eye for Film**, Merlin Harries (95/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a masterpiece that is powerful, surreal, frightening and unprecedented, praising its bravery as a filmmaker's feat and its original, harrowing reflection on genocide told by the perpetrators themselves. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/search/title/The%20Act%20Of%20Killing)
- **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (4/5): The critic finds the documentary a poignant yet incredibly disturbing exploration of mass murderers who reenact their crimes, praising its emotional power, the way it reveals their guilt and humanity, and the impactful finale. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-act-of-killing-review/)

## Details

- **Director:** Joshua Oppenheimer
- **Director:** Joshua Oppenheimer
- **Cinematography:** Lars Skree, Carlos Arango De Montis, Anonymous
- **Editor:** Erik Andersson, Ariadna Fatjó-Vilas, Janus Billeskov Jansen, Niels Pagh Andersen, Mariko Montpetit, Charlotte Munch Bengtsen
- **Producer:** Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Michael Uwemedimo
- **Cast:** Anwar Congo as Self - Executioner in 1965; Herman Koto as Self - Gangster & Paramilitary Leader; Syamsul Arifin as Self - Governor of North Sumatra; Ibrahim Sinik as Self - Newspaper Publisher; Yapto Soerjosoemarno as Self - Leader of Pancasila Youth; Safit Pardede as Self - Local Paramilitary Leader; Jusuf Kalla as Self - Vice President of Indonesia; Adi Zulkadry as Self - Fellow Executioner in 1965
- **Runtime:** 2h 39m
- **Release (Indonesia):** 1 November 2012
- **Genres:** Documentary, History
- **Budget:** $1 million
- **Box office:** $722,714
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTozJLf-Px0

## Where to watch in Indonesia

Not streaming, renting or buying in Indonesia at the last check.

Also available in: AU, BE, DK, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, JP, NL, NO, NZ, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 2014: Best Documentary Feature Film (nominated)
- European Film Award for Best Documentary 2013: European Film Award for Best Documentary (won)

## If you liked this

- *The Look of Silence* (2014), Fi1m 87: Oppenheimer approaches the same history through a survivor’s family, with devastating restraint. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-look-of-silence.md)
- *S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine* (2003): Rithy Panh brings perpetrators and survivors together, keeping the murdered firmly in view.
- *The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On* (1987): A veteran’s pursuit of wartime truth becomes an unsettling study of confrontation.
- *The Conformist* (1970), Fi1m 87: Political violence and the desire to belong meet in meticulously arranged images. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-conformist.md)
- *Night and Fog* (1956), Fi1m 91: Alain Resnais confronts atrocity through places and records, with little room for consolation. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/night-and-fog.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing