--- title: "The Look of Silence" year: 2014 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-look-of-silence" fi1m_score: 87 critics_score: 84 critics_reviews: 26 published: "2026-09-17T05:21:10.505142+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T05:21:10.772035+00:00" region: "US" 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 Look of Silence (2014) Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer · 1h 40m · History, Documentary **Fi1m score: 87** · Critics 84 from 26 reviews *In a sentence:* He fits the killers with new glasses and not one of them sees any better afterwards > Oppenheimer’s companion to *The Act of Killing* sends a quiet optometrist to sit with the men who murdered his brother, and waits. It is calmer than its predecessor and cuts deeper; its patience with one frail old man is hard to watch. ## Synopsis Adi Rukun is an Indonesian optometrist, born after his older brother was killed in the purges of 1965 and 1966, when the army and the civilian gangs it armed murdered people it called communists. His mother names the men responsible; his father, blind and frail, no longer remembers he had another son. Adi watches footage Joshua Oppenheimer shot of the killers boasting, among them Amir Hasan, who appears only in archive footage. Adi visits the old men, carrying a case of lenses and a testing frame, and while they squint at his chart he asks about 1965. Inong and Kemat are among those he sits with. The men expect gratitude, and grow wary when it does not come. ## Review In 1965 and 1966 the Indonesian army and the civilian gangs it armed killed hundreds of thousands of people it called communists. Nobody was tried. Many of the killers are still in their villages, telling the story their own way. Joshua Oppenheimer’s [*The Act of Killing*](https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing) let a group of those men re-enact what they had done in the style of the films they loved, and watched them enjoy it. *The Look of Silence* goes to the other side of the same villages. It is the better film: a plain account of living down the road from the man who killed your brother. Adi Rukun was born after his older brother was murdered. He is an optometrist, and that gives him a reason to knock on doors. He sets up his testing frame, and while the lenses are swapped he asks about 1965. Lars Skree’s camera does not move. It sits at the distance of a second visitor and holds on a face for as long as the answer takes, and usually longer. Oppenheimer’s voice comes from behind the camera now and then, but the questions that matter are Adi’s. Inong, one of the old men, tells Adi that the killers drank the blood of their victims because otherwise, he says, you went mad. He says it with the frame on his nose, squinting at a chart. We were horrified, and it was not the detail that did it. It was the ease. Then Adi tells him whose brother he is, and the ease goes. The camera stays on Inong while he works out that this visit was never about his eyes, and the face closing, with nothing said, is what the title means. Between the visits the film goes home. Adi’s mother is small, quick and unforgiving; she names the men and says what she would like done to them. His father is ancient, blind and nearly deaf, and remembers nothing at all. The old man crawls about a house he no longer recognises, calling for help, and the camera does not step in. Some critics have called it exploitative. We think it runs longer than it needs to, and also that it is the film’s truest picture of a history that has been taken away. Nils Pagh Andersen cuts slowly and rarely. Long stretches go to Adi in front of a television, watching the footage Oppenheimer shot of the killers, saying nothing. Skree films the countryside in a still green quiet, misted paddies, a jar of cocooned beans twitching on a table, and the soundtrack is mostly insects. The music, credited to Seri Banang and Mana Tahan, is used so sparingly that we noticed each time it arrived. An American television report, with Ted Yates on camera, turns up in fragments, and its cheerful narration sits in the film like a stone. It is not flawless. The eyesight business is a tidy metaphor and Oppenheimer leans on it more than once. The confrontations follow a shape, hospitality, then boasting, then the question, then the shutter coming down, and by the fourth we could see it coming. Amir Siahaan and M.Y. Basrun produce the one defence they all share: they were following orders, and Adi should be careful about opening old wounds. The film lets the threat sit there, which is right. A viewer who has not seen *The Act of Killing* will be short of context for Amir Hasan, seen only in archive footage, whom Adi watches with the face of a man reading his own family’s death certificate. This is the quieter film and the harder to shrug off. *The Act of Killing* had a showman at its centre and a great deal of invention. This has a man in a polo shirt with a case of lenses, and it needs nothing else. It runs 100 minutes and we did not check the time once. See it, but not as background. It asks you to hold a face for a long while. Do not expect the men to change. They do not, and that is the point. *Fi1m score 87, published 17 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (26) - **Little White Lies**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (5/5/5): Oppenheimer's follow-up to The Act of Killing is bloodcurdling and brilliant, a devastating hybrid of intellectual and emotional fearlessness. It singles out the anguished tribute to victims struggling against the erasure of their experiences. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-look-of-silence) - **Time Out**, Joshua Rothkopf (5/5): This is a superior, powerfully confrontational work that follows The Act of Killing and features the bold presence of victim’s brother Adi. It singles out the real-life potency of Adi’s ruined expressions and defiant questioning during confrontations with perpetrators. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-look-of-silence) - **The AV Club**, A.A. Dowd (A): Describes it as a powerful and vital companion piece that gives voice to survivors through direct confrontations, though less conceptually daring than its predecessor. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-look-of-silence-is-a-powerful-vital-companion-piec-1798184356) - **Financial Times**, Nigel Andrews (90/100, inferred): The documentary is harrowing and even better than its predecessor, using an inspired method with the optometrist confronting killers to expose ongoing atrocities without authorial outrage. The criminals hang themselves through their own boasts. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/3c413068-102a-11e5-ad5a-00144feabdc0) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The film is a stunning follow-up that shifts focus to the victims' families, who confront the killers. It enters the realm of tragedy with remarkable visual beauty and heartbreaking backstory centered on Adi's dignity and his elderly parents. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/11/the-look-of-silence-review-a-stunning-unmissable-sequel-to-the-act-of-killing) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (90/100, inferred): The film is a simpler and better work than its predecessor, following one man's calm quest for details about his brother's murder and cataloguing the excuses of the guilty amid tense tranquility. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/27/small-victories) - **The New York Times**, A.O. Scott (90/100, inferred): The film is a painful, profoundly empathetic work of moral reckoning that examines the mass killings in Indonesia and the ongoing ideology that justifies them. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/movies/review-the-look-of-silence-confronts-individuals-and-ideology-of-indonesian-massacre.html) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge (90/100, inferred): The film is a stunning companion piece that shifts emphasis to the victims while maintaining the predecessor’s moral complexities, keen sociological shading and devastating jabs of humor. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/festivals/venice-film-review-the-look-of-silence-1201292224/) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (85/100, inferred): This is an extraordinary follow-up to The Act of Killing that focuses on the impact of the Indonesian massacres on survivor Adi, an optometrist confronting the killers of his brother. The film is praised for its hypnotic portrayal of Adi turning from hunter to hunted during his direct, personal interrogations. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-look-of-silence-review-how-to-spot-your-brother-s-killer-by-examining-his-eyes-10316177.html) - **Film Comment**, Jonathan Romney (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a calm, contemplative companion to The Act of Killing, more emotionally raw in its direct confrontations yet offset by visual beauty and formal elegance. Adi’s quiet dignity and the perpetrators’ unrepentant revelations are singled out as especially powerful. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/film-of-the-week-the-look-of-silence/) - **Vulture** (85/100, inferred): Calls the film necessary and more conventional than its predecessor, praising its focus on victims and the power of testimony and confrontation through intimate, dramatic filming. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/07/profoundly-sad-look-of-silence-is-necessary.html) - **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): The film stands apart as a less flashy but more intimate portrait focused on a soft-spoken optometrist confronting killers from his brother's murder. It singles out the quiet dignity, anger and courage of Adi and his mother as the tonal measure amid tense and uncomfortable encounters. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/the-look-of-silence/5076727.article) - **The Times**, Camilla Long (80/100, inferred): This masterful follow-up is more surgical and meaningful than the first film, focusing on Adi the optician confronting death-squad leaders. It is unrelenting, desperate, sad and mesmerising in exploring the legacy of the killings. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/jurassic-world-and-the-look-of-silence-7vn00gbzq3n) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (70/100, inferred): Calls it a first-rate followup that provides the survivors a voice in a more traditional documentary style, contextualizing the protagonist's quest amid family life and history. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/review-the-look-of-silence-is-joshua-oppenheimers-first-rate-followup-to-the-act-of-killing-22696/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (70/100, inferred): The film is a shocking and significant companion piece that illuminates one of recent history’s great horrors through the victims’ perspective, though it is exceptionally difficult to watch. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-look-of-silence-review-20150724-column.html) - **Sight and Sound**, Nick Pinkerton (70/100, inferred): The film is a companion piece to The Act of Killing that examines the possibility of truth and reconciliation through the eyes of a victim's family member. It singles out the intimate confrontations conducted by optician Adi with former killers as a powerful means of probing historical silence. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-look-silence) - **Slant Magazine**, James Lattimer (60/100, inferred): Notes that the film remains gripping despite its approach, criticizing the sensationalism, manipulation, and staged elements while acknowledging its intensity and outrage. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-look-of-silence/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, THR Staff (50/100, inferred): Praises the film as riveting for its focus on one man's personal confrontation with his brother's killers, noting it is frank and shocking. Criticizes the morbid fascination, gruesome details, and lack of delicacy and restraint in its approach. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/look-silence-venice-review-728686/) - **HeyUGuys**, Jo-Ann Titmarsh (5/5): The film creates a haunting diptych with its more personal approach, following one man's quest for truth and accountability from the perpetrators of the Indonesian genocide. It is more emotionally engaging than its predecessor, with visual poetry and a glimmer of hope in reconciliation. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-look-of-silence-review/) - **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (A): The follow-up is an ululating lament and spellbinding equal to The Act of Killing, transformed in tone but undiminished in power, with masterful imagery, soundtrack, and focus on Adi's courageous restraint amid horror. It meditates poignantly on legacy, bravery, and the search for truth. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-joshua-oppenheimers-spellbinding-the-look-of-silence-20150713/) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The film is a jaw-dropping work of non-fiction that lets victims confront perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide through Adi, an optometrist seeking answers about his brother's murder. It highlights the haunting impunity and silence that persist decades later. [Read](https://collider.com/the-look-of-silence-movie-review/) - **Consequence** (90/100, inferred): The film is a breathtaking, haunting documentary that examines survivors' guilt, propaganda, and repressed memory through Adi's risky confrontations with aging death squad leaders. It powerfully contrasts the perpetrators' rationalizations with the victims' enduring trauma and pursuit of truth. [Read](https://consequence.net/2015/08/film-review-the-look-of-silence/) - **NME**, Angus Batey (90/100, inferred): The review calls the film exceptional for offering a personal perspective on Indonesia’s mid-’60s genocide through an optician confronting the killers of his brother. Adi’s courageous persistence in chipping away at the wall of silence is highlighted as astonishing. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-16116-314389) - **Paste**, Christine N. Ziemba (8.9): The straightforward companion piece to The Act of Killing is devastatingly powerful and elegiac, focusing on survivor Adi confronting killers under the guise of eye exams. It damns the mass murderers and the ongoing culture of fear and denial in Indonesia. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-look-of-silence) - **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson (80/100, inferred): Oppenheimer focuses the atrocity on one family's experience, with Adi confronting the killers during eye exams as a metaphor for helping them see differently. The patient camerawork lingers effectively on faces and emotions, though some scenes with Adi's father verge on exploitative. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-look-of-silence-2014-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson) - **The Skinny**, Ben Nicholson (★★★★): The critic praises the film as a worthy, intimate companion piece to The Act of Killing that shifts focus to the victims’ perspective. Adi’s quietly crushing dignity while confronting the killers is singled out as the heart of this imperative and devastating documentary. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/the-look-of-silence) ## Details - **Director:** Joshua Oppenheimer - **Director:** Joshua Oppenheimer - **Cinematography:** Lars Skree - **Editor:** Nils Pagh Andersen - **Music:** Seri Banang, Mana Tahan - **Producer:** Signe Byrge Sørensen - **Cast:** Adi Rukun as Self; M.Y. Basrun as Self; Amir Hasan as Self (archive footage); Inong as Self; Kemat as Self; Joshua Oppenheimer as Self (voice); Amir Siahaan as Self; Ted Yates as Self (archive footage) - **Runtime:** 1h 40m - **Release (the US):** 17 July 2015 - **Genres:** History, Documentary - **Box office:** $332,710 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUnMbG0FzdQ ## Where to watch in the US - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $9.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AT, AU, DE, GB, IE, IT, JP, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 2016: Best Documentary Feature Film (nominated) - European Film Award for Best Documentary 2015: European Film Award for Best Documentary (nominated) - Jeanne Moreau Prize 2015: Jeanne Moreau Prize (won) ## If you liked this - *The Act of Killing* (2012), Fi1m 88: Oppenheimer’s first visit to the same killers, louder and stranger, and the necessary other half — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-act-of-killing.md) - *Shoah* (1985), Fi1m 93: Lanzmann’s nine hours of faces and testimony, the model for letting a question hang — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/shoah.md) - *S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine* (2003): Rithy Panh puts Cambodian survivors and their guards in the same prison room - *Nostalgia for the Light* (2010): Chilean women searching the Atacama for bones while astronomers search the sky above them - *The Missing Picture* (2013): Panh again, rebuilding a childhood under the Khmer Rouge in clay figures because no footage survived --- © 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-look-of-silence