Joshua Oppenheimer‘s The Act of Killing was one of the most haunting cinematic experiences of my life. It’s a film that made the perpetrators of the Indonesian genocide of the mid-’60s face their crimes with an unusual cinematic conceit. Of course, this powerful film was snubbed at the Oscars in favor of a feelgood story about backup singers. But awards aren’t Oppenheimer’s motivation and he’s returning to the subject once again for the companion piece to The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence. The film has played at film festivals and is garnering the same acclaim as its predecessor. Today see the debut of a new trailer for the film which is once again executive produced by Werner Herzog and Errol Morris. Even if The Look of Silence has one-fifth the effect of its predecessor, it will still be a haunting and unforgettable experience.
The Look of Silence opens in select theaters on July 17th.
The official synopsis:
*The Look of Silence* is Joshua Oppenheimer’s powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated *The Act of Killing*. Through Oppenheimer’s footage of perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide, a family of survivors discovers how their son was murdered, as well as the identities of the killers. The documentary focuses on the youngest son, an optometrist named Adi, who decides to break the suffocating spell of submission and terror by doing something unimaginable in a society where the murderers remain in power: he confronts the men who killed his brother and, while testing their eyesight, asks them to accept responsibility for their actions. This unprecedented film initiates and bears witness to the collapse of fifty years of silence.
