What will you do if you are given a movie camera and provided all the facilities to make a film? Now, Imagine you are a person who is responsible for killing thousands of people when you were young. And you live in a country where you were supported to do it, you still walk free and is celebrated as a ‘hero’ of the nation. Now as you have become old, some people approach you to make a film about the things you have done in the past. They tell you they will render all the equipment and facilities to re-enact all the killings you have done and shoot it as a film. All this sounds crazy, right?
Well tell me, will you make such a film if you are that person? Anyway, that's what Anwar Congo did. He was one of the leaders of the death squads which perpetrated the mass killings of 1965-66 in Indonesia. Anwar Congo and other members of the death squads were invited to make a film to re-enact their memories and experience of the killings as a movie. ‘The Act of Killing’ documents the making of this movie where they recreate the events of the mass killings.
Believe me, ‘The Act of Killing’ is the most surreal documentary you will ever see. It shows how war crimes are defined by the victors. Stretching the limits of filmmaking, this is a raw and disquieting nightmare of bloodshed, sin, and repentance.
Along with violence and its portrayal, always comes a question about revenge. Now let me introduce you to a haunting tale of revenge. What if you were kidnapped and kept in a sealed room for 15 long years. You don't know the reason why you are imprisoned and literally have no idea about who did this to you. All you have is the hope to escape one day and have vengeance upon whoever did this to you. And suddenly, one fine day, you are released. How will you find your captor? How will you have your revenge?
“Revenge is never a straight line. It is a forest. And like a forest, it is easy to lose your way, to get lost, to forget where you came in”. These are the words of Hattori Hanzo in Quentin Tarantino's ‘Kill Bill’. And this is exactly what happened to Dae-su in ‘Oldboy’. He is released after 15 years in captivity, with no information about his captor and the reason for his imprisonment. There is one more thing he doesn't know. The journey he sets out to find his captor is going to change his life once and forever.
Once you finish watching Oldboy, you may think whether retribution should have a limit. It is a violent and gripping tale of vengeance. No wonder it is hailed as one of the finest neo-noir thrillers ever made.
'The Act of Killing' and ‘The Oldboy’ are two masterpieces. Both hit you hard on your head after you finish them. While the former makes you question the portrayal of reality and believability of the events, the latter will haunt you with the brutal nature of vengeance. I feel Iike I would not stop talking and will spoil the fun. So you guys find the movies, watch them and check whether I was right.
