--- title: "The Act of Killing: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing" critics_score: 91 critics_reviews: 14 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): what the critics said Critics' score 91 from 14 reviews: 14 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative. 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. ## Little White Lies — David Jenkins Rating 4/5/5. 28 June 2013. 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 the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-act-of-killing) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 5/5. 25 June 2013. 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 the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-act-of-killing) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 August 2013. 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 the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-act-of-killing-film-review-8677957.html) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 9 September 2012. Festival review. 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 the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-act-of-killing/5046417.article) ## Slant Magazine — Andrew Schenker Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 March 2013. 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 the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-act-of-killing/) ## The Telegraph — Tim Robey Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 27 June 2013. 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 the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/10146136/The-Act-of-Killing-review.html) ## Vulture — David Edelstein Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 July 2013. 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 the review](https://www.vulture.com/2013/07/movie-review-the-act-of-killing.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 27 June 2013. 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 the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jun/27/the-act-of-killing-review) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 15 July 2013. 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 the review](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 the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-executioners-song/) ## Sight and Sound — Tony Rayns 1 July 2013. 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 the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/review-act-killing) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Stephen Dalton 8 February 2013. Festival review. 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 the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/act-killing-berlin-review-419597/) ## The New York Times — A.O. Scott Rating Critic's Pick. 19 July 2013. 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 the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/act-of-killing-re-enacts-indonesian-massacres.html) ## The Playlist — The Playlist Staff Rating A+. 17 July 2013. 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 the review](https://theplaylist.net/review-the-act-of-killing-is-a-constantly-astounding-terrifying-masterpiece-20130717/) ## The Skinny — Philip Concannon Rating 5/5. 24 June 2013. 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 the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-act-of-killing) ## Collider — Matt Goldberg Rating A. 15 March 2013. 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 the review](https://collider.com/act-of-killing-review/) ## Eye for Film — Merlin Harries Fi1m's normalised score 95/100 (inferred from the text). 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 the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/search/title/The%20Act%20Of%20Killing) ## HeyUGuys — Stefan Pape Rating 4/5. 25 June 2013. 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 the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-act-of-killing-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing.md