The Act of Killing: walking in the streets of Indonesia will never be the same

I didn't hear about the "The Act of Killing" before watching it for the first time; I didn't even know it was nominated for Oscars this year. Few moments after rewatching it for the second time it still feels so surreal. The world is a cruel place.

For the first few minutes, I thought that the subtitles are wrong. Then I thought it is some kind of a joke and at the end at the end the author will reveal the truth. I will spoil this: he won't.

I was in Indonesia few weeks ago, the genocide document is speaking about ment for me one line in my guide. I just automatically placed it next to the holocaust, 30 million dead during the Great Leap Forward in China, genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda or Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was other sad number in my head,  one million didn't really make it "outstanding". I feel that my brain built a resistance against these sad events. 

But in all the single events I named, the people were able to deal with the past, punish. Not in Indonesia. The executers, the documentary follows,  there live happy lives, are recognized and well-known, even run for the parliament. Mainly they are even proud of what they did. 

The document is maybe describing the events happening in 1965-66. Yet, I feel that it is only the shell, it is mainly about Indonesia today.

You can watch "The Act of Killing" on Youtube. Apparently the documentary significantly stirred the polictical scene in Indonesia. It was for awhile banned, but particularly due to the popularity caused by the Oscar nomination, the government was not able to control the distribution over the internet... Some people even divide Indonesia before The Act of Killing and after.