Joshua Oppenheimer: The Act of Killing

Werner Herzog says of 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.” And Errol Morris 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. Når jeg ser traileren på Vimeo bliver jeg rystet, helt bogstaveligt rystet, selv om jeg forstår, det er rekonstruktioner, ikke fiktion, nej, omhyggelige genskabelser af erindringsbilleder, ikke fortrængninger, men de mest forfærdende hændelser og gerninger, disse medvirkende lever med som deres liv. Som noget selvfølgeligt, forstår jeg? Jeg SKAL se den film om de indonesiske dødspatrulje-gangstere, som myrdede kommunister for magthaverne midt i 60’erne. Den åbner CPH:DOX 30. oktober.

Filmen havde premiere på festivalen i Toronto tidligere i år, den er produceret af blandt andre Final Cut for Real og klippet af Janus Billeskov Jansen og Niels Pagh Andersen med flere, så den skal vel i dansk distribution efterhånden?

Still: En af scenerne fra traileren, en mere end brutal afhøring.

PS Jamen dansk distribution er altså sikret! Jeg siger selvfølgelig ja til Saras invitation, og her er hendes link til DOX:BIO med liste over alle biograferne, hvor filmen vises simultant 7. november:

http://www.doxbio.dk/dbio/b.lasso?d=2012502&n=1119&e=0 

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Allan Berg Nielsen
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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