The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence: A critical reflection

These notes from the field explore the author’s reflections on contemporary debates around the 1965 Indonesian mass killings, using two documentary films, The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, as an entry point. The article contextualizes, criticizes, and expands the narrative of these films. Despite their largely positive international reception, the films lack historical context and neglect previous academic studies related to the mass killings—this article elaborates on these two aspects and expands the argument. It also reviews from the Global North news media and criticizes their biased forms of knowledge production. In addition, the article elaborates on receptions in the Indonesian national and local contexts, and reflects critically on the possibility of these two films contributing to the fight for social justice in Indonesia.