This was a massacre in Indonesia in 1965. It was the Indonesian Communist Party who was killed, and most of them were Chinese. After a lapse of forty-eight years, Joshua Oppenheimer, the director of "Deduction of Killing", found Anwar Gango, a murderer at the time, and asked him to tell and re-interpret the brutal scenes of the time. Anwar Gango, this shuddering name, even though it appears to be aging in the film, it is still full of energy, triumphant, and relaxed in the interpretation of the murder scene. What seems to have died in his own hands is not the same life as himself, but just a bunch of insignificant objects. His interpretation in the film is just like the real situation in Indonesia at that time. In that hell on earth, people have already lost their eyes and humanity has disappeared. In the step-by-step interpretation, Gango showed remorse and was afraid of the victim's death. In reality, the Indonesian government has never reflected on the fact that the dead are still in their hearts.
The film was so brutal that it made people unbearable to watch. Although it has a sense of ritual, it is very real and restores the entire incident at that time. The audience can see how the evil of human nature bursts out when people are unrestricted; when people have power, they become arrogant and regard life as grass; when people wantonly slaughter lives, they will There are so many different kinds of creativity. Just because you have a different belief from yourself, just because of a different race from yourself, you can kill it like an ant without any mercy. Different from the Nazi slaughter of Jews, the Nazi system killed people and the individual hid behind the system; while in Indonesia’s slaughter, the individual rushed in front of the system, voluntarily extending his hands, holding machetes, iron wires and even All things that can kill, vent their anger during the killing, and experience the thrill of power.
Relatively speaking, "The Silent Image" was more mature, without fancy things, very plain, so that the victims and the perpetrators only faced the camera and the truth. The blood and blood faded away, leaving only the pain, the courage to face the truth, and the escape from the truth. The protagonist in the documentary is a small businessman who makes a living by matching glasses to people in the countryside. He has elderly parents and lovely children, and his life is pretty good. But there was a lingering nightmare in his heart. His elder brother also died in that massacre, and the murderer who killed his elder brother with extreme cruelty was still alive in this small village, still happily talking to the camera about the murderous scene at that time, without any repentance. Before his death, his brother was tortured. He was tortured and killed three times. He died in extreme pain. And this is the heavy burden that lies in the hearts of the protagonist and his family in the film.
"Deduction of Killing" reflects on that period of history, but the film obscures the entire historical background, without in-depth analysis of the causes and consequences of the massacre. Why did such a tragic killing occurred in Indonesia in the 1960s? Why did the Communists, especially the Chinese, become the target of the massacre? These two points are what keeps the countries involved in the incident secret.
As a murderer, the Indonesian government's ambiguous attitude is understandable. Although Indonesia's political situation has undergone great changes, and the massacre at that time was also done by the dictator Suharto, this bloody killing, after all, showed the barbarism of the Indonesian nation. As a country that has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people by other countries, China's cover-up attitude towards this incident is quite interesting.
We have always regarded non-interference in each other's internal affairs as the cornerstone of our diplomacy, but when we look closely at history, this is not the case. After the CCP came to power, supporting the revolutions in Asia, Africa and Latin America became the noble concept of the country, and exporting revolutions to countries in the world, especially the so-called colonial and semi-colonial countries, has become an inevitable choice for our diplomacy. It is the focus of our export of revolution to Southeast Asian countries that are within the reach of China's influence. From the three countries of Indochina to Malaya in Thailand, the Maoist communist parties everywhere regarded China as their big brother and engaged in armed struggle. This is especially true in Indonesia. After Indonesia's independence, Sukarno, who has a strong leftist color, became president, and he was very close to China. During this period, the Indonesian Communist Party, supported by China, also grew stronger, and many Chinese also joined the CPI, claiming to have three million members and becoming an important force dominating the Indonesian political arena.
As an officer of Sukarno's Presidential Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Weng Dong, a radical communist, decided to launch a surprise attack and hold the supreme power of the army. On September 30 of that year, he led the soldiers to arrest 7 generals of the Indonesian army, killed 6 of them, and announced the establishment of a revolutionary committee. The Indonesian Communist Party is also commanding this movement in an air base. Unfortunately, they missed General Suharto and also underestimated public opinion. The right-wing Suharto led his troops to quell the rebellion, declared the Indonesian Communist Party illegal, and forced Sukarno back. At the same time, they believed that China was behind the 930 movement and announced the severance of diplomatic relations with China. This was a considerable blow to Mao Zedong's optimism towards the Southeast Asian revolution.
Suharto announced the process in the media and re-held funerals for the dead generals. Millions of Indonesians came to mourn and the military led by Suharto earned enough tragic points. After that, Indonesian university students became angry and took to the streets to demand punishment of the Communist Party. Suharto and others were happy to obey, and a massacre began. Under the connivance of the military, the Indonesians began to hunt down the Communist Party. Since many Chinese have joined the Communist Party of Indonesia, they also took the opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction with the Chinese who had long been entrenched in their hearts. After all, the Chinese occupy a dominant position in the Indonesian economy and their living standards are generally higher than that of the locals. The uncontrolled anger was ignited, and the cruel brutality drove everyone. They unscrupulously used various cruel methods to torture and kill those they believed to be guilty. Indonesia in 1965 was a hell on earth, with lynching raging, bloody storms, and everyone in danger. From "Deduction of Killing", we can get a glimpse of the horrible situation at that time.
Until now, Indonesians still do not reflect on this history. Just like the murderer Anwar Gango in the movie, they still think their actions are justified, and they still narrate the feats of the year with pride. They believed that their actions avoided a coup d'etat instigated by foreign countries, avoided the redness of Indonesia, and also prevented Indonesia from falling into the hands of the Chinese. The development of the international and Indonesian national situation in the following decades also made Indonesian citizens thankful that they had not succeeded in seizing power by the Communist Party of Indonesia. The Cultural Revolution in China, the redification of the three countries of Indo-China, and Pol Pot's tyrannical behavior in Cambodia, made them feel that they had chosen the right thing at that time. As a country where so many nationals were bloodied and slaughtered in other countries, China has never stood up resolutely. Of course, there is something unspeakable in this. The export of revolutionary ideals encountered a brutal and bloody counterattack. The revolutionary interests died in violence, and at the same time, the pond fish was harmed.
In the film, we finally saw Anwar Gango’s remorse, and this remorse did not come from his reflection, I’m afraid it’s more from his fear of death, and he was afraid that those wronged souls would turn to him. Desperately. But more people still don't realize the bloody and barbarity of that massacre, realize the respect for life, and realize that such behavior will pay a high price. As long as the attitude of the Chinese government remains so ambiguous, as long as Indonesia’s barbarism has not yet evolved into civilization, as long as Indonesia’s democratization process remains so volatile, this kind of killing will continue.
"Deduction of Killing" looks at the big picture, placing it in a grand historical background, to pursue the truth of history, and to inquire about the cruelty in human nature. The "Silent Image" starts from a small point of view, reflecting the painful history of the family, and focusing more on the courage of the seeker and the conscience of the killer and his family. The former interprets the history of killing, while the latter highlights people's escape from numbness or sadness from the silence.
In "The Silent Image", the mirror image of the optician appears repeatedly, not only on the victim's family, but also on the victim's side, as well as on the faces of bystanders at the time. This is related to the protagonist's profession in the documentary, and it is a metaphor for the director to express his views. People's eyesight will decline, and the memory of history will be blurred. By adjusting the red glasses, while covering one's face, it may restore the true side of the event. People who wear red glasses are all witnesses of history. They may be in violence and stained with blood; or they may witness all the tragedies, and it is hard to forget. For the families of the victims, this is an eternal pain in the heart and cannot be relieved. Of course, it is necessary to seek the truth, and the relatives who have died seek justice. Regarding the perpetrator’s relatives and friends, they were unable to face the questioning of the victim’s relatives. Facing the camera, they dodged repeatedly, asking why they had to turn over the old accounts decades ago? Even if they are the beneficiaries of the incident, their souls can hardly get rid of the entanglement of the unjust souls. Because there is still human nature in everyone's heart, even if there are thousands of reasons, human nature cannot tolerate violent massacres.
Of course, as the relatives of the perpetrators in the film said, this is a political act, and the ordinary people in it cannot reverse history. Individuals are only parts of the political machine. It is true. It is understandable that people can choose different political behaviors because of their different interests and positions. Political torrents can engulf individuals, but individuals cannot shirk their responsibilities. People are responsible for the actions they choose. When the clamor of politics or revolution dissipated, what remained were millions of concrete people who had to face each other directly. Although killing is a kind of institutional behavior, it is through the hands of one person to kill another person. The so-called wrongdoer is the owner of the debt. Here, individuals cannot hide themselves behind the system and escape their individual responsibility. . The victim could not claim his life from the cold system, but he could testify against the man with the knife.
Hannah Arendt used mediocre evil to testify against Eichmann's machine-like massacre, full of philosophical meaning. According to legend, the judge asked the East German soldiers who fired the gun better: "Can't you raise the muzzle two inches?" Yes, killing is an order, but cruelty is a manifestation of your soul. You have to face the torture of your conscience, and you have to face the questioning of history.
(Part of this article comes from a previous film review about "Deduction of Killing", with slight changes.)
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