Joshua Oppenheimer: The Act of Killing

På filmskolen i København på fredag og lørdag skal jeg så blandt meget andet formodentlig høre Werner Herzog uddybe sin meget citerede udtalelse om ”… Oppenheimer’s depiction of power and violence: ’I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade… unprecedented in the history of cinema.’ ” De ord fangede mig virkelig dengang, og så fulgte Errol Morris lige efter: ”… he praises Oppenheimer’s portrayal of violence and cinematic imagination: ’Like all great documentaries, ‘The Act of Killing’ demands another way of looking at reality. It starts as a dreamscape, an attempt to allow the perpetrators to reenact what they did, and then something truly amazing happens. The dream dissolves into nightmare and then into bitter reality. An amazing and impressive film.’ ” (blogs.indiewire.com)

Når Herzog og Morris siger sådan, bliver jeg mere end interesseret. Og fra jeg som det første så traileren på Vimeo var jeg rystet, helt bogstaveligt rystet, selv om jeg forstod, det var rekonstruktioner, jeg så. Men det var heller ikke fiktion, nej, det var omhyggelige genskabelser af erindringsbilleder og ikke af blotlagte fortrængninger, men iscenesættelser af de mest forfærdende hændelser og gerninger, disse medvirkende lever med som deres liv. Som noget selvfølgeligt, forstod jeg? Jeg skulle se den film om de indonesiske dødspatrulje-gangstere, som myrdede kommunister for magthaverne midt i 60’erne. Jeg ville egentlig ikke. Og nu skal jeg så høre Hezog og Oppenheimer tale om sådanne spørgsmål i to dage i træk! Det bliver sindsoprivende.

Read more / Læs mere: Joshua Oppenheimer

Allan Berg Nielsen

Allan Berg Nielsen started the first documentary cinema in Randers, Denmark way back in the 1970’es. He did so at the museum, where he was employed. He got the (16mm) films from the collection of the National Film Board of Denmark (Statens Filmcentral). He organised a film festival in his home city, became a member of the Board of Directors of the Film Board, started to write about films in diverse magazines, were a juror at several festivals and wrote television critiques in the local newspaper. From 1998-2003 Allan Berg was documentary film consultant (commissioning editor) at The Danish Film Institute, a continuation of the Film Board. Since then free lance consultant in documentary matters.

abn@filmkommentaren.dk

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