Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Turfseer The Look of Silence is Joshua Oppenheimer's follow-up to his fascinating documentary The Act of Killing, which dealt with the legacy of massacres of so-called Communists by paramilitary groups and their followers in Indonesia in 1965. This time Oppenheimer focuses in on an optometrist, Adi Rukun, who goes around interviewing various men and their family members involved in the 1965 massacres, some of whom were directly involved in the murder of his older brother. As in the Act of Killing, the murderers are well-known pillars of their community, proudly boasting about their role in the massacres. Oppenheimer utilizes footage from the Act of Killing which Rukun looks at on a TV screen. In one sequence, the main killer of the man's brother, along with an accomplice friend, are interviewed at the very spot where the brother was murdered. They joke about how they killed the brother which involved cutting off his genitals and slitting his throat.Rukun interviews another killer who soon objects to his "political questions." He cuts the interview off as it's clear he doesn't like dealing with the moral questions that are being raised. The killer is vague about how the victims were identified as Communists. At one point he mentions that they failed to attend the local mosque for prayer services. He also mentions that there were rumors of some people having extramarital affairs which would have implicated them as "bad people." It soon becomes obvious that virtually anyone could have been accused of being a Communist back then. The victims might have been a collection of all types of people from varying socio-economic classes: union activists, non-religious people, those accused by neighbors trying to settle a score, and thousands who were completely apolitical and had no affiliation with Communism.The demented nature of the killers became clear when more than person being interviewed admitted that they drank their victim's blood. They did so, according to these men, because if they didn't, they would have gone "crazy." Family members of the perpetrators often claimed no knowledge that their kin were involved in the massacres. Some of these people stated that the past needed to be left alone and a few even implied that those who persisted in looking at the past could be subject to retaliation in the present day.Eventually Rukun pays a call on his uncle who worked as a prison guard in 1965. The uncle had no guilt feelings as to his role in the massacres and claimed that since he didn't kill anyone directly, he bore no responsibility for the killings. When Rukun informs his mother of this, she's incredulous that her brother may have been involved in the death of her son.In addition to the various killers interviewed, we also meet Rukun's centenarian father who is blind and almost deaf as well as his mother who harbors a great deal of bitterness over her neighbors who have escaped the bar of justice.Between The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, the former has more of an overall impact. James Lattimer writing in Slant gets to the root of the problem with Oppenheimer's current approach: "With the previous film and most of this one already having repeatedly plumbed the depths of depravity with which such killings were carried out, it's hard to understand why the protagonist needs to be placed in such a manifestly wrenching position, aside from a salacious desire to have his reaction on camera."Despite reservations as to the way the material is presented, The Look of Silence remains a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of people who have committed horrendous crimes and escaped the bar of justice.

Tardisbooth ******* Minor spoiler warning (nothing major) ******I just saw The Look of silence at the local art house type theater near my house. The title of this film had several meanings to me. Will touch more on that later tho. The Look of Silence is a follow up film to The Act Of Killing. The focus of the film is on a man named Adi whose older brother was killed by the Indonesian Komando Aksi death squads during the 1965 Indonesian genocide. This was during the cold war era, therefore the United States government chose to help Indonesia mass murder millions of suspected communists and make profits from the death and corruption that ensued.Adi's brother Ramli was one such Indonesian that was branded as a communist, therefore the Komando Aksi arrested him and relocated him to a prison camp, from the prison camp he was loaded onto a truck with a bunch of other suspected communists, and driven to Snake River and butchered in horrific form. Ramli was one of the more graphic executions that took place, and many of the death squad leaders still remembered Ramli because of the over the top execution that was done to him. It is really graphic, they not only stabbed him and chopped him up, but they also tossed him into the river to die, when he was crying for help the murderers pulled him back out of the water and cut off his genitals, then he died. A very evil and sadistic way of killing someone.Adi travels around his village and beyond meeting with the death squad leaders who were indirectly, and directly involved with his brothers death, and confronts them about the past and very cleverly and gently recalls the past to them, and in some cases their children, and force them to remember the uncomfortable past that they so desperately try to forget. This seems to be very important to Adi and Josh Oppenheimer that the true story of what really happened does not become forgotten, and to inform current and future generations of Indonesians that the narrative that their government has been going by, is a huge lie and full of propaganda to make the killers look like celebrated heroes of the state. This film is immensely important and the whole world needs to know and make the governments involved take action and own up to the truth. We cannot live in the shadows of tyranny and pretend that it didn't happened.Back to the name of the film. The look of silence was represented to me through the look on the faces of the killers as Adi recalls the gruesome accounts that they were involved with, and the look on Adi's face when the killers seem to not feel remorse for their actions. However, there was an alternate interpretation of the title for me. As I said, I watched this film at the local movie theater, and never have I seen a film anywhere, at any theater in which the audience did not talk or be disruptive at all. It was literally the audience looking at the film in complete silence. Also when the credits rolled, every single person in the theater stayed in their seats until the credits were over, and then walked out of the theater still in silence. Josh is a damn good director and story teller, and I admire him so much for having the courage to make such a film like this one and The Act Of Killing.If you care about history, and humanity you should watch this film. If you only have the capacity for Michael Bay films, then you probably aren't mature enough to handle this film.I give it a 9 out of 10.

JoshuaDysart With just two films to his name, both about the Indonesian mass-murders of the mid-1960's Oppenheimer has become the most important documentarian of his generation. His second film, "The Look of Silence", coupled with his "The Act of Killing" has created a sea- change in the Indonesian truth, justice and reconciliation movement. Forcing new laws to be written and putting the government in a defensive position against the nation's media.But Oppenheimer is more than an activist. He's an artist. His films are contemplative, playful and quietly confrontational. His visual attack is succinct, his marriage of form and theme is flawless and his moral intent is thunderous.Where "Act of Killing" was concerned with a larger study of post-massacre Indonesia, "Look of Silence" chooses a more intimate landscape. Geographically, emotionally and cinematically it is regional. Concerned with a single killing, the men who did it – directly and indirectly - the family it affected and the small village that has lived with questions about other killings like it for fifty years. Where "Act of Killing" lived in absurdist grand cinema, "Look of Silence" exists in tight close-ups of the perpetrators, survivors and truth-seekers. More than anything, more than words, their faces tell the story. So much happens behind the eyes, around the corners of the mouth, in unspoken glances. The horror, doubt, guilt and seemingly impossible reconciliation stirs below the surface. For all the cinematic flex of "Act of Killing", this contained take on the same material, seems more haunted and human.The star of the film, Adi the eyewear peddler, pursues this mission with intelligence and courage. We meet his family. His happy playful daughter, his thoughtful son, his cautious loving wife, his ageless mother (probably the most engaging character captured on film this year), his wisp of an ancient father, and his memory of a murdered brother, looming over everything. From them he finds the courage to question murderer after murderer face-to-face. The combination of his profession as an optometrist with his quest to seek truth would seem heavy-handed if it were fiction, but nothing here is inauthentic. In showing all of Adi's family, from the fresh and young, to the spent and dying, we see the full arc of life.Lastly, the film makes a glancing but firm indictment against the American anti-Communist fervor that fed into - and the American corporations that profited from - these killings. It gives strong evidence that the Cold War, the war of ideology and the murder of millions, allowed for, and was even fought for, Western corporate dominance in places like this. And here the grinding up of human beings for profit in this situation is undeniable. Oppenheimer wants to make sure no one involved gets off without having to face, if not their own role in the massacre of millions, then at the very least, their culture's.And so it goes, the people (wives, mothers, daughters, sons, fathers, husbands), the silence, the haunted jungle hum that fills most of the auditory space in the film, the great and overwhelming significance of it all… everything pools together to show us something words alone can't manage. Something about how a horror can be so great that its impact can loom over generations. About living with debilitating fear of those who have claimed power over you through violence. About the most nightmarish tendencies in humanity, and our courageous capacity to overcome the worst of ourselves. About just how difficult it is to look into the eyes of a killer and say, "I know what you did." And more profoundly, more frighteningly… "I know you."

Bryan Kluger I didn't think it was possible to outdo one of the most compelling documentaries about the atrocious Indonesian killings during the mid 60s, but never say never. Joshua Oppenheimer set out over the last decade or so to confront and interview the mass murderers and victims of the Indonesian killings. Oppenheimer got Errol Morris and Werner Herzog on board to to produce his documentary, which was called 'The Act of Killing'.'The Act of Killing' followed a few of these mass murderers who killed literally thousands of innocent people over the span of a year or two. These people were men, women, and children who were thought to be communists. These victims weren't just shot in the head, but they were sadistically tortured and killed by a variety of ways. These murderers are still alive today and are considered heroes by the government, but are still feared by the common folk. It truly is unbelievable that the Indonesian government and paramilitary are still alive and well today, and are still in power, where these murderers walk free with no remorse.'The Act of Killing' earned an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. Needless to say, this documentary didn't shed any good light on the Indonesian government nor the military, but Oppenheimer went back to make a follow up documentary, because his story is far from being over, which brings us to 'The Look of Silence'. This documentary is just as good if not better than 'The Act of Killing' and will draw tears and actually keep you on the edge of your seat for fear of Oppenheimer's life and his subject.'The Look of Silence' follows a single family, living in a small village in the heart of where the genocide of the 60s took place. The youngest son named Adi, who wasn't born at the time, now has a family and helps people with their eye glass prescriptions. Adi sets out to confront the mass murderers who tortured and killed his older brother Ramli. His bottomless devotion doesn't stop at confronting these people, but goes further into trying to get everyone in his country to seek the truth and start admitting what actually happened, because as we saw in 'The Act of Killing', the people in power will never admit to anything. It brings tears to my eyes as Adi uses his very calm demeanor, holding back his own tears and big gulps of breath as he tries to get answers and the killers to admit what they had done.Throughout the film, Adi confronts the killers who were concomitantly involved with his brother's death, then later in the film, he talks with the murderers who actually killed him. Each interview is more suspenseful than the one before it, as these people who are still in power are not too happy to be answering questions about this, which none of them actually want to come to terms with what they did. In fact, they still revel in the fact that they committed all these heinous crimes and consider themselves good people. It's all so heartbreaking as Adi begins to put the pieces together of his brother's death and who actually was involved, which hits closer to home than any of us would like to see.Adi is a simple man, but he is one of strong conviction to seek the truth without being a jerk. He is calm, collected, and always wise with his words and actions. He's a deeply exceptional person, and you can't help by connect with him on this very emotional journey. Oppenheimer is always by his side and with his camera, as he takes in the beautiful landscapes of Indonesia with his artistic eye. Almost every scene is a beautiful painting with so much pain behind it. I have no doubt that 'The Look of Silence' will win more awards this year, and this continues to show us the Joshua Oppenheimer is one of the best documentary filmmakers working today.