MIFF 2013 - Day 3
Murder seems to be the theme of the day.
THE ACT OF KILLING
Imagine going to a group of mass murderers, war criminals, and instead of finding them in hiding, they're proudly telling you of the atrocities they committed. That's the surreal and disturbing world you find yourself in when watching this remarkable documentary about the mass killings that occurred in the wake of the 1965-66 "Communist Uprising" in Indonesia. Local gangsters and paramilitaries murdered somewhere between 100,000 and 2.5 million people. Nobody knows the actual number, no records were kept. And the men who perpetrated some of these acts have agreed to make a film about what they did, with themselves as the actors, while the documentarians film them. It's actually very funny, sometimes genuinely funny, sometimes horrifically so. But that's their way of depicting their actions. And thankfully we get to see how it begins to disturb at least some of them. It shines a light on something rotten at the core of Indonesian civil society, and hopefully now that it's exposed it can wither and die. This is remarkable and confronting viewing.
BLACKFISH
And onto murders of a different kind. Tilikum, an orca kept at Seaworld, has killed or maimed several of its trainers. And it's not the only killer whale in captivity to have done so. This film would make an excellent double feature with The Cove, highlighting the many issues with holding these animals in captivity and making them perform tricks for the audience. Systematically identifying the issues, we're shown how water parks mislead the public on the known facts of orca biology to preserve the image that what they're doing is beneficial to the animal. The money involved is huge, so the lies are fairly hefty too. But the misery inflicted on the orcas is undeniable, and the risk to the trainers is equally confronting. With what's now known about both dolphins and orcas, it's hard to see how these kinds of theme parks can continue to operate much longer.
THE ACT OF KILLING
Imagine going to a group of mass murderers, war criminals, and instead of finding them in hiding, they're proudly telling you of the atrocities they committed. That's the surreal and disturbing world you find yourself in when watching this remarkable documentary about the mass killings that occurred in the wake of the 1965-66 "Communist Uprising" in Indonesia. Local gangsters and paramilitaries murdered somewhere between 100,000 and 2.5 million people. Nobody knows the actual number, no records were kept. And the men who perpetrated some of these acts have agreed to make a film about what they did, with themselves as the actors, while the documentarians film them. It's actually very funny, sometimes genuinely funny, sometimes horrifically so. But that's their way of depicting their actions. And thankfully we get to see how it begins to disturb at least some of them. It shines a light on something rotten at the core of Indonesian civil society, and hopefully now that it's exposed it can wither and die. This is remarkable and confronting viewing.
BLACKFISH
And onto murders of a different kind. Tilikum, an orca kept at Seaworld, has killed or maimed several of its trainers. And it's not the only killer whale in captivity to have done so. This film would make an excellent double feature with The Cove, highlighting the many issues with holding these animals in captivity and making them perform tricks for the audience. Systematically identifying the issues, we're shown how water parks mislead the public on the known facts of orca biology to preserve the image that what they're doing is beneficial to the animal. The money involved is huge, so the lies are fairly hefty too. But the misery inflicted on the orcas is undeniable, and the risk to the trainers is equally confronting. With what's now known about both dolphins and orcas, it's hard to see how these kinds of theme parks can continue to operate much longer.
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:03 AM
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