The Look of Silence

2014

Action / Biography / Documentary / History

27
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 89% · 140 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 89% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 8.3/10 10 14776 14.8K

loss of loved one mass murder biography indonesia torture murderer

Plot summary

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

Director

Joshua Oppenheimer Photo
Joshua Oppenheimer

Top cast

Ted Yates Photo
Ted Yates as Himself, reporter, NBC News
Kemat Photo
Kemat as Himself, survivor from Snake River massacre
Amir Siahaan Photo
Amir Siahaan as Himself, former commander of Snake River death squads
Inong Photo
Inong as Himself, former leader the village death squad
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
833.23 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 2
1.58 GB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
25 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 19

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by peefyn 9 / 10

"Look of Silence" is a great title for this movie, for many reasons

The Look of Silence is such a brilliant title for this movie. For one, it's a good description of Adi's reaction when hearing about the murder of his brother. (And it's oddly fitting that he is an optometrist). It's also a description of the response they get from the perpetrators, refusing to show any guilt or remorse, preferring to pretend that it never happened. And that seems to be what Oppenheimer is tapping into in Indonesia, the look of silence, and what really lies behind it.This is definitely a companion piece to the previous "Act of Killing". Not because it does not stand on its own, which it does, but because they stand so much stronger together. Each documentary has an unique perspective on some mutual themes. Especially guilt and remorse.It's amazing how it all comes together in a movie like this. Oppenheimer must have done a lot of work for this. Adi is such a good subject for a documentary like this, and having him being willing to explore this dark side of his nation's history, and openly talk to the people who brutally murdered his brother - it's such an unique way to explore all of this. And Adi does a really good job with it all.
Reviewed by Groverdox 9 / 10

Unfathomable

It's hard to "review" a movie like "The Look of Silence". You don't really watch it and evaluate it like you do anything else. You bear witness.I have never been able to write anything about its prequel, "The Act of Killing". I broke my rule of reviewing every movie I watch on here because I just wasn't up to the task. Watching that movie, and "The Look of Silence" to a slightly lesser extent, was like being dosed with heroin and hit with a sledgehammer. The usual "disturbing" movie, documentary or otherwise, has an impact that can be shaken off eventually. With "The Act of Killing", I never really felt it, but I knew it was there. It took something from me. The impact bled through into my day to day life. It wasn't just like a bad dream. It was real.Here is "The Look of Silence". It gives a different side of the story that "Act of Killing" presented, through the son of survivors of the Indonesian genocide. He learns about the fate of his older brother, killed two years before his birth. Then he confronts some of the killers and their families, though these meetings don't go as you might expect, especially for the son, Adi.This movie really should be watched alongside "The Act of Killing". Whereas "The Look of Silence" is no less horrible in its descriptions of actual murder, I have a feeling that it is the goodness of Adi and his family you will remember.
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