Online Response 2

The Act of Killing and Night and Fog tackle a past genocide using two drastically

different approaches. Documentaries are faced with a unique challenge: to convey the reality of an event while maintaining audience attention and empathy. This becomes especially difficult when the subject is expansive, heavy, and brutal. However, by using a variety of tactics, The Act of Killing and Night and Fog bring a deep sense of understanding and empathy while managing the topic of genocide.

The Act of Killing chooses to approach this subject by letting a past genocide be the

context in which a story plays out. Heavy elements of observational documentaries are

employed as they follow Anwar Congo make a movie about his participation in the mass

genocide in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-66. As the film follows Congo, the audience learns about the brutality of the events, the cultural influences still embedded in Indonesia, and the stunning lack of justice for those killed. However, the film is not about the victims. The surviving victims play a distant role, only seen quickly and quietly; some of the last survivors still being oppressed by the same organization that killed their friends and family. The film focuses almost exclusively on the perversers and executioners of the genocide. The film shows how Congo and his constituents are still affected by what they did and how they handle the guilt–or lack thereof. Joshua Oppenhiemer, the director, does not take a particular stance. There is no life lesson articulated. The story Oppenhiemer chooses to tell is one of Congo wrestling with inner turmoil in the aftermath of this genocide.

Night and Fog takes a far different approach. Though Night and Fog does use footage

taken from their present day, that footage operates as a reminder that this genocide really

happened. Unlike The Act of Killing, Night and Fog uses archival footage and delves into the past. The subject is the event itself. It shows the victims as well as the perpetrators through archival footage and narration. There is no one character followed; no one person explored. This movie is about peoples and their past behaviors collectively.

The narrator, playing the part of an omniscient god, tells us about the tragedy and gives

us a clearly defined message. The Act of Killing does no such thing. It leaves an ambiguous

feeling of heartbreak over tragedy, but empathy for the perpetrators. However, both films draw parallels from the genociders to the audience. In Night and Fog, the narrator outright tells the audience that atrocities like this are still happening today, and yet they are not choosing to be aware. The audience is compared to the Nazis. In The Act of Killing, the film helps contextualize Congo and his comrades, helping the audience grow a sympathy for someone otherwise seen as horrendous.

Both films address genocide, however differently. These topics are difficult, but both

films show how tragedy can be seen through different lenses in an effectively meaningful way. Whether stepping back in time through archival footage or allowing the past to speak through the present context, documentaries can effectively address tragedy with empathy.