Joshua Oppenheimer on "The Act of Killing": The VICE Podcast 034 

Thank you Mr. Joshua Oppenheimer, for making this documentary. It must have been difficult. As a Chinese Indonesian, it has not been easy to watch, for as minority race I know first hand how we have been treated all these years. I had to stop a few times because it was too upsetting. As one of the 80's kids, I too, was among those who have been brainwashed, and your work has opened my eyes. So, again, thank you.

They gave the Oscar to a film about backup singers over this ?!?!.... I have no words.

The film should be a staple of any social psychology course.

Im indonesian. i would like to say thank you, Joshua. this , and Senyap , really eye-opening. i grew up in propaganda period of Soeharto about Commies, and me myself, oddly, feeling guilty for believed that BS. Once again, Thank You.

My late grandfather was a police chief in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, his brother in law was on the list as a target by the dead squad but my grandfather intervene so his brother could live, and he succeed although his brother still had to serve 10 years in prison. This story was told to me around 15 years ago by my grandmother and some other relatives, my grandfather and his brother in law was not there at that time. My grandfather could only save one live that day, while hundreds or maybe even thousands of other lives was killed in the province, under his watch as a helpless police chief. I never asked him about the story, I know it must have been a nightmare he had to live with for the rest of his live. RIP grandpa.

You are a hero Mr Oppenhiemer. You used your position, privilege, skills and intelligence to shine light on something horrifying that the perpetrators got away with... You invented a model, that I hope is understood and used over and over.

This guy is a genius. It was a long thought provoking journey.

i have seen the doc. it was like nothing i had ever seen. the creator seems like an extremely gifted person. what a great idea he had.

Thank you for this great interview! I've seen Oppenheimer's follow up to "The Act of Killing" called "The Look of Silence", also about Indonesia, but seen from the eyes of the survivors. If you were moved by the first film you most certainly have to see it. Beautiful work!

This should have won the Academy Award. Robbed!!!

A bald interview for a bold film, I like it!

"I think we all claim, advocate values that if we were to live then would necessitate real, profound changes in our lives." Unbelievable. My hat to you, Joshua.

Fascinating dialogue.

joshua oppenheimer makes me ashamed of being indonesian because he has more knowledge about our history than most of indonesians.

Wish the interviewer would just let Joshua speak. The interviewer thinks this is about him and interrupts Joshua with unimportant facts that anyone who has seen the movie would know. Joshua does his best to save this interview but wow... Thank you Joshua!

Xerxes is a brilliant interviewer

"the act of killing" was the scariest movie I've ever seen... brutally scary in its honesty.

Terrifying. Even now, I am lying to myself about this as well - To protect myself from knowing that I am doing nothing about it. Thanks Joshua and Reihan.

Great interview; great questions and elaboration on a lot of subtle ideas from the film and gives more context to the filming of the documentary.

The Act of Killing is a powerful, must-watch film.

What the fuck is he writing on his notepad He's speaking to you, make some eye contact

20:47, the most judiciously executed interruption I've seen in a long time.

After watching the film and this I could not be more grateful for life that I have. Just imagine the decades of injustices and pain inflicted on the victims of this conflict. I am a Malaysian would like to urge fellow Indonesians to wake up to the reality. Let it be publicly known that the perpetrators are war criminals not national heroes. "Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." Let's end the cycle of violence and spread peace.

it's funny to me how the interviewer uses such a wide vocabulary compared to his guest and yet Oppenheimer comes off as far more erudite

A recent obituary of Anwar Congo in the Economist led me to the documentary. I was speechless at what I saw. This podcast further shook me as Mr. Joshua Oppenheimer discussed how the documentary was made. I was becoming really depressed by the brutality - not just the killing, but also the insouciance displayed by these killers in front of their grandchildren, which is the most brutal thing they could do because they are robbing their children's born humanity - and I can't help questioning if human beings could ever be redeemed by God or any other cosmopolitan force. Then it occurred to me that, exactly due to people like Mr. Joshua Oppenheimer, there is still hope for us human beings. THANK YOU, DEAR MR. JOSHUA OPPENHEIMER!

No wonder this film didn't get the oscar hearing how the US government was involved in this genocide to a certain extent. Great interview, great film. Shame on you, humanity.

Joshua Oppenheimer is so articulate and so compassionate, not to mention a brilliant filmmaker. The interviewer was awful here. Really [poor, but it felt like Oppenheimer was able to rise above the pretentious questions and poor interview style. Seriously, what’s the pen and paper about??

My complete respect for Joshua Oppenheimer, stunned by his remarkable documentary....Big respect.....

very interesting :o .. thanks for providing interviews like that :)

Is it just me, but even as Joshua talks about the incredible change that his film has brought, he's scared or nervous. Really in the last comments he makes in the film, his tone and body language are different, to the usual measured response. I feel like this is a representation of an incredible artist, he realises he has given life to something, and even though he respects the amazing good it could do has already done, he is also scared to think that maybe something else will happen, perhaps repercussions. He is aware that he has released something to the world that he no longer has control over. I don't know, but that's one of the key things that i took from this interview. He is an incredible man on all accounts.

Must-see movie of the year. Friggin' mind-blowing.

EASILY the best and most unique documentary i have seen in years. SEE IT.

Thanks for posting. Excellent Interview. Very impressive man, and I hope to see the DVD when it's released otherwise I'll go the cinema. Clearly, a Must-See. Shocking story.

Reihan isn't a good interviewer. He speaks too quickly with a verbose vocabulary. He doesn't acknowledge his guests answers, just waits until he can ask a different question. It's too bad cause these podcasts get interesting guests, but they need to replace this guy.

Excellent interview

I'm not a fan of interviews in which the 'expert' is stifled and railroaded by the interviewer. I would have liked to have heard more ambiguous questions that allowed Joshua to pursue the train of thoughts he feels are most relevant to be known by the public. His experiences are the invaluable knowledge to be had here and while an interviewer should lead the discussion and keep it on track, I don't feel the discussion should be so heavily directed. So what if as the interviewer you don't get to ask all the questions you've got lined up? getting someone's interpretation isn't about limiting what the interviewee can discuss, it's about hearing what they have to say.

Great interview. Class act.

I'm surprised! I've grown so used to seeing polarised Americans discuss politics against each other. I feel Oppenheimer in this interview is truly expressing himself and I can feel his deep understanding of the topic. Amazing to see a person express himself with so much introspection! Is this something of an era gone by?

these have been great interviews. i'd also be interested in seeing followups from experts.

Thank you Joshua❤

Great interview, Vice is awesome.

This documentary was amazing

Thank you, Joshua Oppenheimer, for me, you are the new generation of "Indonesianist" after Benedict Anderson passed away

does anyone know where i can stream the movie for free in 2021? putlocker isnt working these days..

Incredible film. Enlightening and chilling.

The most impressing film I have seen in my howl life. Thank you

This really was one of the most incredible documentaries I've seen in my life, and I've seen many

My guy in the suit sounds really fucking smart

first 10 seconds alone is enough for a like.

Thank you, Joshua. I am Indonesian. Jakarta Methods by Vicent Bevins brings me here.

I did not know that this was a thing that had happened or that there was a docudrama about it until this video.

They won't tell this in the school history books.Heck,they don't tell anyone the whole truth.This world is really sad.Cold-Blooded killers everywhere.Money and Power for sure.

Clearly the interviewer was trying to distract Joshua from the points he was trying to raise.

I do like Vice because they show the world about history; past/present that most of us never would have known about.

the most important film in THE HISTORY OF FILM, EVER, PERIOD

Why is the interviewer taking notes? Is someone not sending him the interview link for him to refer back???

This movie was made 10 years ago? My God, I had no idea. Must watch.

Hmm. Overall I like the interviewer's questions, but I wish he would stop interrupting the flow of the conversation with irrelevant trivia and non-sequitur observations. I appreciate it when interviewers translate key technical terms for the audience, or provide background information that helps enrich the audience's understanding of the conversation. But here, the interviewer seems to be trying to draw attention to himself.

Thank you for making this movie Joshua - the Indonesian people will (eventually) thank you.

Could you please do a documentary on the genocide done in Egypt by the military coup in 2013

Excellent documented Film making.

Oppenheimer was born on the cusp of Beauty. Rarely are these individuals both physically and intellectually and spiritually beautiful. In fact, I think he's the paragon for the cusp, now, for me.

I love Vice,great stuff guys.

i come back to Vice because when they do get it right the depth and truthyness commited is literally calming.

I still have not got through the film yet but it sure is strange ,

Profound.

I bet the interviewer has never actually used any of the notes he so desperately wants to be seen writing lol

Is there any name more ominous than Oppenheimer?

Is he related to the scientific head of the manhattan project?

What a terrible interview of a wonderful artist. Joshua is not a military historian but a filmmaker. Stop asking him ridiculous convoluted questions to show off your own understanding of the political situation.

The Jungian shadow distilled at 20:20 :(

In two days there is a presidential election in Indonesia. And the two candidates, Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto, are strong opposites one of the other. Speculations and rumours on both of them being backed up by the USA (via CIA and similar) are everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised that both are. Still, the resume of Prabowo Subianto chills my blood when I hear the interview with Joshua Oppenheimer.

lol @ 10.59

all the western countries supporting suharto's regime should apologize or at the very least recognize what they had did. Not only did they support the Chinese genocide, they also supported Indonesia's occupation of East Timor

Thank you Mr. Oppenheimer for this documentary. Even after Reformation, what we learn in school about this horrible event still so black and white. Only few paragraphs about how communists brutally murdered 6 generals and 1 general aid, and buried them in Lubang Buaya. Apparently this topic still something that's really sensitive and many apprehensive to talk about..

I don't think he's related to J. Robert Oppenheimer, but it would be interesting

a very disturbing yet a must watch film for all humans...............

Very intelligent and disturbing. Thank you!

20:47

I must have never heard 'askance' spoken aloud before.

Extremely slow but devastating documentary.

what is reihan writing while doing these lol, I've always wondered. its as if he's doing a report

thank you Joshua for your smart documentary movie. Sadly most of Indonesian people will never get smart enough to understand the message and they will keep on hating these " PKI " .

Need Indonesia subtitle

see i wasnt aware about all this until one day i watched a tv program discussing whether "he" is deserving to be called national hero in my mind i was like no way why now? isnt it obvious he is the core reason to a lot of miserable things that happen in this country? years later to now i randomly just got suggested that movie now i understand what propagate all that discussion on the country at the time.

A sad fact that Indonesia is the largest country which is "not on the map", a sad fact that must change

🎉

Is this A Clockwork Orange made as a Documentary?

People with PTSD often see a neurologist.

I just finished eating, now I'm going to watch something gory...

at 39:08 for some unknown reason Salam trys to finish Joshua's sentence and fails hard. what is he even doing? whenever Joshua isn't speaking it's just 5 syllable word salad from that dude.

I'm jealous to you Joshua, that you're more Indonesian than me

I just watched the film and I feel so sick... Throw me some love lol, this film made me loose the will to live.

Joshua looks like a bald Ben Affleck

whats most sickening is to recognize all of those characters in this country's (indo) daily life as they way its supposed to be, I tried to show two young indonesians the movie, one (international background and quite open minded for the national standard) had a knee jerk reaction saying how bad the communists were, the other one (from sumatra no less, well educated) showed indifference and boredom...

Oppenheimer is terrific in spite of Reihan Salam's pretentiousness. Reminded me of William H. Buckley, I don't know why all reasonably smart conservatives have to talk like that.

LOLO SOETORO?????????????

Is he the descendant of the man who "have become death it self"?

it make me remember when I younger. I said "Communist (PKI) is bad while we wacthing G30S PKI movie. My mother silent for a while , when saying the army is really evil. they killing so many people guilty or not. But she say nothing who is wrong or who is right. Now, I understand...

Was Société Financière ever held accountable for what they did to the women?