Last night I saw Oppenheimer's new film The Look of Silence. It's a disturbing documentary about a brother's search for the truth in 1965/6 Indonesia, when over a million so-called communists were massacred in sadistic killings during an army coup led by General Suharto. Adi is an opthalmologist and uses the offer of eye tests and new glasses to ask questions of the perpetrators, who seem to relish the retelling of their crimes without remorse. In fact, the drinking of human blood is celebrated as a cause for their longevity and strength. Interspersed are scenes with Adi's very old parents. His father blind and demented. His mother, washing and caring for him, sad and still grieving for her son murdered fifty years ago.
We constantly come back to the surreal image of a toothless perpetrator wearing the clunky glasses used to determine his prescription. The symbolism of sight-or lack of it- is used throughout, right to the end credits, where some of the film makers are listed as anonymous. No doubt because many of the men interviewed are still in power in their communities. I was a young volunteer in Jakarta a couple of years later and so the film has particular resonance for me. Currently on general release I highly recommend The Look of Silence to you.
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