tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post4781172397870622564..comments2024-03-27T21:42:56.131-05:00Comments on 1001plus: The Depth of Human EvilSJHoneywellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-70498075040552757922016-10-14T08:55:50.267-05:002016-10-14T08:55:50.267-05:00When I look back at the two films, I find that I&#...When I look back at the two films, I find that I'm a lot more affected by <i>The Act of Killing</i> than I am <i>The Look of Silence</i>. Your comments on the mystery that is Ramli are a big part of that. We don't really know who he is or was, and a part of that might well be that our protagonist here never knew him, either. There is much less of a connection here, and for me, the only way to really break down evil and show just how terrible it is is to show the personal side of it. <br /><br />The old saying is that one death is a tragedy and a million deaths is a statistic. That's true when you really know the one person who has died. Since we never really know Ramli, it's difficult to move his death high on the tragedy scale. It's terrible, certainly. It's monstrous, absolutely. But he's someone none of us get to know, and so the emotional connection beyond fear, horror, and disgust is missing.SJHoneywellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13550007053995112090noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3166297507174717122.post-91301104370335029592016-10-12T17:43:20.845-05:002016-10-12T17:43:20.845-05:00You may remember how I raved about The Act of Kill...You may remember how I raved about <b>The Act of Killing</b>. When I heard there was a sequel (and it had been added to the 1001 List), I requested it from the library pretty quickly because I really waned to see it.<br /><br />As expected, it's another powerful examination of guilt and culpability and the banality of evil in Indonesia. <br /><br />I think I still prefer the first one, just for those moments where somebody among the killers has a moment where they realize what they have done. Like that moment where the one guy is saying "Should we be talking about this? It might make us look bad" and the others are looking at him like he's crazy. Or that moment at the end where the killer has a few tears in his eyes as he realizes that "they were communists" doesn't even begin to justify the slaughter even if it was true.<br /><br />One thing that would have helped <b>The Look of Silence</b> is a little more info on Ramli, the slaughtered brother. What was he like? Why was he picked up by the citizen murderers? Was he an activist? Did somebody have a personal grudge against him? Was he just swept up in the patriotic fervor by a bunch of murderers who wanted to brag about how patriotic they were because they killed a large number of atheist communists who had sex with each other's wives?<br /><br />It was something I was curious about that was never addressed. I think it would have added to the impact of the film. Tonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17921029597363212734noreply@blogger.com