The Look of Silence

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

a film by Joshua Oppenheimer.

Why am I singing?

To relieve my broken heart.

Why should I spin yarn-

- if in the end

the yarn will be cut?

Why should I remember-

- if remembering only

breaks my heart?

Ali Sumito was killed in Sukasari.

What happened?

My men were afraid of blood.

So I chocked him like this.

His tongue came out...

You asked!

I ripped him open.

His intestines spilled out.

Another one...

I threw him.

He landed on a rock

and cracked his skull.

He tried to hold his head together.

In 1965, the Indonesian government

was overthrown by the military.

Anybody opposed to the military dictatorship...

could be accused of being a communists...

union members,

landless farmers and intellectuals.

In less than a year,...

over one million "communists" were murdered...

and the perpetrators still hold power

throughout the country.

Your mom misses you, Ramli.

I haven't seen you for so long, Ramli.

I still see you in my dreams..

You can see me,

but I can see you.

I wish I could see you.

You're my son.

I raised you.

I miss you.

You were tortured,

dumped in the river...

Nothing left but your bones.

No flesh.

Please pray that I'll get well.

Your dad is sick too.

He's blind, crippled, deaf...

It's our fate.

We're both sick..

Mine isn't so serious...

just a pain in my hip.

Lift yourself up.

Lift yourself up.

Give me your hand.

And the other one.

Lift yourself up.

Lift yourself up.

Come to the wheelchair.

- Lift myself?

- Yes.

Wait.

- It's about the same.

- Do you fell dizzy?

- Which is better?

- This one.

- Where did you live in 1965?

- Aceh.

In Aceh,

many people were killed in 1965.

No, nothing happened.

I heard they hung people.

No, it was calm.

At Snake River,

many people were killed.

You mean communists?

I know nothing about it.

- In Aceh, nothing happened?

- No.

- Do you remember the communists?

- Of course.

Who were they?

I don't know what they did,

but they were blindfolded...

brought to the river,

slaughtered, shot.

Who slaughtered them?

How should I know?

You ask too many questions.

Sorry.

I'm just passing the time.

When I meet older people,

I like to hear about the past.

Glasses!

I'm selling glasses!

Playing with the glasses?

You'll regret it!!

My eyes are big!

Want to buy glasses, sir?

These look better on me.

Dad, can you still sing?

- What?

- Can you sing?

Of course!

Please, sing.

You're so sexy

I can't stand it!

You're so sexy

I can't stand it!

Your long, curly hair...

Your soft checks...

So pleasing to the eyes...

Are you married yet?

When your brother died,

your dad's teeth fell out one by one.

It was terrible.

Every morning, he lost another tooth,

until he had two left.

He wouldn't speak.

I couldn't eat.

I couldn't sleep. I couldn't bathe.

I just sat under the tamarind tree...

and remember how your brother

always sat there...

and ate his dinner.

You look just like him

You are the answer to my prayers.

I'd pray...

"Please replace my dead son".

Is you weren't born

I'd have gone crazy.

I thought my life was over...

But two years after he died,

you were born.

American news report

1967

But now Bali has become more beautiful

without communists.

Some of the communists leaders from

this village realized they were wrong...

and came to the village council

and asked...

when the village council will clean

the village Os communists?

Some of them.

Some of them wanted to be killed.

"Now give me a chance to say

goodbye to my relatives...

and the next morning

I'm ready to be killed".

Can you swim like those kids?

Of course.

It's shallow.

You just act brave!

Communists are cruel.

Communists don't believe in God.

To change the political system,

the communists kidnapped

six army generals.

They sliced the general's faces

with razor blades..

Would you like that?

Imagine how painful it would be

if your eyes were gouged out.

Their eyes were ripped out!

If you slaughtered a chicken,

and just rip its head off...

Wouldn't that be cruel?

Cruel.

The communists were cruel.

So the Government had to repress them.

The communists were put in prison.

Their children couldn't

become government officials.

Hey!

You're the child of a communist!

You are not allowed

to work for the government!

Hey!

Your grandfather was a communist!

You're not allowed in the army!

Hey!

Your grandmother was a communist!

You can't joy the police!

If you rebel against the state,

you go to jail.

So let's...

thank the heroes,

who struggle to make our country a...

Democracy!

The generals refused to sign,

so their faces were cut with razors.

Their eyes were gouged out.

Another general refused to sign...

...so they sliced his cheek.

When he still refused,

they gouged out HS eyes.

According to your teacher,

who killed the generals?

The killers...

- Didn't he say it was the communists?

- Yes.

It's all lies.

All this talk about gouging eyes...

So the communists weren't cruel?

No, they weren't.

He was told they were cruel.

The generals were killed

by the army, not by the communists.

Did your teacher mention

the people killed at Snake River?

Or the million innocent people

who were murdered?

No.

They sat in the truck like this.

All of them were crying.

Paralyzed with fear.

Blindfolded, hands tied.

They had seen our machetes.

So sharp.

This way is comfortable.

Grab another.

Their hands were tied.

- Joshua, when was this filmed?

- 2003. April.

Maybe he acts this way...

...because...

...he regrets what he did.

He regrets killing people.

Because he feels guilty...

...when he re-enacts the killing,

he's completely numb.

You asked!

Are you done shooting?

This is what I did to women.

Rip off her shirt...

Kick!

They stole from their victims.

Now they are rich.

They killed the husbands and

took their wives.

How do you feel living

surrounded by your son's killers?

You see them every day...

It's horrible.

When we meet in the village...

...we don't speak.

I hate them.

In our village,

the mayor, the teachers...

...they were all killers.

It's up to God.

Those people can do what they like.

They destroyed so many people...

Now they enjoy life.

But just wait. In the afterlife,

their victims will take revenge.

They will suffer later.

There's no use raising it now.

How old are you, mom?

Around 100.

- How old does your ID card say you are?

- My ID card

I lost it.

This is dad's ID.

"Born in 1909"

So he's 103 years old.

Your dad?

Impossible.

But the problem is...

Your dad must be 140 years old.

He's been sick like this for 13 years.

But mom, dad says he's 17.

My hair went gray before his.

Have you ever celebrated

your birthday, mom?

No, I don't believe in that.

You get addicted to it.

We never celebrate birthdays.

- Where do you sleep?

- There.

- Why not with dad?

- He smells of pee.

When I want be hugged,

he tickles me.

- But you have many children!

- When it's time to make babies, we do it.

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