On the Act of Looking

Rex Butler is Professor of Art History in the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture at Monash University, Australia. David Denny is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Portland, USA. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Culture and Media Studies at Marylhurst University, USA.

I hoped that The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence would serve as mirrors — not to Indonesia alone, but to the whole world — inviting us to see humanity’s most painful, mysterious truths. What an unexpected surprise, then, to encounter a book so rich in insight, so manifold in perspective — a work that truly holds a mirror to my own, and thus to me. That pleasure carries urgency. When the films first appeared, I insisted they were not about a genocide committed decades earlier, but portraits of our present, of a flourishing regime of impunity, nothing that impunity is the story of our times. Today, as the whole world is becoming The Act of Killing, that seems at once prescient and terrifyingly understated.

• 1. Introduction: The Look of Silence at the Act of KillingRex Butler (Monash University, Australia)2. An Interview with Putu Oka Sukanta and Galuh WanditaRex Butler (Monash University, Australia) and David Denny (teacher of Philosophy, USA)3. Thinking of Joshua for My Country, IndonesiaMartin Aleida (Journalist, Indonesia)4. A Conversation about The Act of KillingNiels Pagh Anderson (Norwegian National Film School, Norway) and Joshua Oppenheimer (Film Director, Denmark)5. A Conversation about The Look of SilenceNiels Pagh Anderson (Norwegian National Film School, Norway) and Joshua Oppenheimer (Film Director, Denmark)6. The Presence and Absence of History in The Act of KillingJohn Roosa (University of British Columbia, Canada)7. The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence: Movies against the Politics of StigmaAsep Topan (Independent Scholar, Australia)8. Performance and Human Rights in Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing and The Look of SilenceAlexandra S. Moore (Binghamton University, USA) 9. Joshua Oppenheimer’s Provocation and its ReceptionIqra Anugrah (University of Turin, Italy)10. All That is Spectral Made into Solid: Watching The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence as Ghost StoriesTito Ambyo (RMIT University, Australia)11. The Historical Situation: Oppenheimer’s Metacinema in the Context of Documentary TraditionsDavid LaRocca (Author and Filmmaker, USA)12. The Truth of Atrocity: The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence and Fantasmatic ViolenceHilary Neroni (University of Vermont, USA) 13. The Discourse of the Analyst: A Reading of The Act of KillingDavid Denny (teacher of Philosophy, USA)14. Conclusion: On Forgiveness for Acts of KillingRex Butler (Monash University, Australia)Index