The Look of Silence (2014) Movie Script
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.
I can't sleep when he hugs me,
so I kick him, and leaves me alone.
Every night, we're load
our quota onto a truck...
and drive to Snake River.
Leaders of the village death squad
Amir Hasan and Inong
The truck would stop here.
We'd pull our prisoners
off the truck...
and drag them 100 meters downstream.
Some screamed. Some cried.
Some begged for mercy.
We already beat them on the truck...
so they couldn't run away
once they got here.
This road was packed
with Komando Aksi members.
But it was night!
And outsiders weren't allowed in.
Only us.
Each district would take turns.
For example,
let's say you're a victim,
You have no strength left...
- Because we beat you.
- I'm limp.
Please squat, sir.
- Now start to beg...
- But I'd be sitting, not squatting.
They drag me by the legs...
- But I'm not wearing clothes.
- No clothes.
Only underwear.
- How as he pulled?
- Like this!
He would be lying down.
His hands would be tied.
"Drag him!
To the riverbank!"
He's totally helpless now.
It's pretty.
It smells lovely!
it smells lovely...
but it's subtle.
So this is the place?
They brought us out here,
and took us that way.
Survivor from Snake River
Kemat.
- Were you lined up?
- Yes, single line.
Were people watching like this?
No! People were too scared to watch.
- No one came out?
- No way.
No one dared.
Is this where Ramli realized
he would be killed?
Yes, he creamed for help..
He screamed,
"They're going to kill us?"
He kept shouting,
"They're going to kill us all."
- Where did you scape?
- By that house.
I could hear screaming
and gunshots.
Bang! bang! bang!
So this is where Ramli
was hacked up.
And this man jumped from the truck...
and escaped into the plantation.
How do you feel
coming back here?
The past is past. I've accepted it.
I don't want to remember.
It's just asking for trouble.
It's covered up.
Why open it again?
The wound has healed.
Is there a path down to the river?
So we dragged them down this hill.
If they didn't want to be dragged,
we threw them.
Like this...
It's slippery.
Now we're safe.
"Help! Mercy!"
We'd drag them.
Some of them screamed.
"Please, sir! Have mercy!"
- But we don't care...
- "Help, please!"
In fact, we beat him again
to shut him up,
because his screams
could frighten my men.
Please don't kill me!"
But we keep pulling him...
There's another man
pulling me from behind.
From here, can the prisoners
see the blood?
Yes.
Yes, because the place
was lit by torches.
- So you know you're about to be killed?
- Yes.
You can see the other's blood?
- Yes, he knows.
- Because others went first.
So he's given up hope.
"I'm about to die" he's thinking.
"I'd better accept it".
This is the spot.
There were boards here.
There was a pier.
I'd walk out there...
Like this.
Some were lying down...
Others were bent over.
The executioner comes and hacks...
Hacks through my neck..
- The blood!
- Blood sprays everywhere.
After my head's cut off,
I'm kicked into the river.
- Kicked that way. He floats...
- So does my head.
His body bobs up and down
Slowly...
My old body...
is heavy now.
May peace be upon...
those who rest here.
My name is Kemat.
I'm here with a friend.
May God have mercy on us all.
May God bless...
everyone resting here,
my friends,
and family.
It is up to God,
to punish those who hurt,
our friends,
and families.
It is not for us to punish.
Oh God, grant us peace.
Inong
Leader of the village death squad
- How old are you?
- 72. Almost a century.
My ID card is now for life.
No need to renew it.
- Excuse me.
- Go ahead.
How did you meet Joshua?
He came here seven years ago.
Your left eye is covered.
so we're testing your right eye.
Look in the distance.
- Is it sharper?
- It's sharper.
Are your neighbors afraid of you?
Most people here were communists.
They know...
they're powerless against me.
Because I'm part of a mass movement.
Even if most people here
were communists farmers...
they're scared of me.
- So people here, are afraid of you.
- Yes.
Is this better?
Yes.
If we didn't drink human blood,
we'd go crazy.
Many went crazy.
Is this more clear?
No, it's the same.
- How about this?
- A bit blurry.
Tell me about people going crazy.
Some killed so many people,
they went crazy.
One man climbed a palm tree,
each morning.
to do the call prayer.
He killed too many people...
There's only one way to avoid it:
drink your victim's blood,
or go crazy.
But if you drink blood,
you can do anything!
- How do you feel...
- Both salty and sweet...
Human blood.
- Excuse me?
- Human blood is salty and sweet.
I know from experience...
if you cut off a woman's breast,
it looks like a coconut milk filter.
Full of holes.
There was a communists woman.
She lived with her brother,
but he wasn't communist.
He didn't want to kill his own sister,
so he sent her to me.
- So you...
- Yes, he sent her to me.
Did you cut your victims more than once?
No, only once!
You must not cut humans twice.
Then, why...
did you cut off
the woman's breast?
Why not?
You cut off her breast.
- And then?
- Her throat.
- That's twice.
- It doesn't matter.
If they're
bad people, you can hack them up..
- Who were the communists?
- The Indonesian Communist Party.
You said...
Communist Party members
had no religion.
They had sex with each other's wives.
So people say.
- That's only a rumor.
- They said it themselves!
When we interrogated them.
- But Islam doesn't teach killing.
- No, it doesn't.
Muhammad never killed anyone.
He was against killing.
But you're allowed
to kill your enemies.
So you...
Why are you asking these questions?
are you trying to make me angry?
I know what you're doing.
Your questions are to deep.
I don't like deep questions!
I can cancel this!
I don't mind.
You ask much deeper questions
than Joshua ever asked..
I don't like it.
I don't like talking about politics.
- You keep talking about politics!
- I know nothing about politics.
You say that,
but your questions are political!
And I have no more time.
I'm going to the mosque.
I see.
Okay. I will make you glasses.
I know your prescription.
- I'll choose frames that suit you.
- Thank you.
Please make them for reading.
How do you see these events?
It's over.
Everything is safe now.
The past is past.
Luckily I drank blood.
If not, I'd be crazy,
calling to prayer from trees.
But something disturbs me.
I'm not here to harm you...
but to reveal...
the true history.
All this time, history
has been distorted.
The people you killed had no religion.
It's a lie.
It's only propaganda,
to give religious people like you
an excuse to kill.
"Communists have sex with each other's wives"...
It's a lie.
It's propaganda!
But you're talking politics again!
It's bad!
Joshua, stop filming!
Why do you always talk about politics?
Always politics!
Why are they moving?
There's a butterfly inside.
- Was your tooth pulled yesterday?
- Yes.
- Was it loose?
- No.
- How did they pull it?
- With pliers.
And?
And...
And... I don't know.
"Mom!"
"Is that you, Ramli?"
"Have you come back?" "Yes, mom".
"Come here, mom."
I kissed him.
I took off his clothes.
He was covered with blood.
He was ripped open..
"Mom, can I have coffee?"
But when the water boiled,
they came to take him away.
They said they'd
take him to the hospital.
Of course they weren't
taking him to the hospital!
After all, he was
running away from them.
I kissed him...
"Goodbye, mom"...
"They won't let me
come with you, Ramli".
Pray that the killers' children suffer.
Their children and grandchildren.
The people who killed you...
Pray...
...they get killed.
May they suffer...
The ones who killed you...
Your long, wavy hair...
Your soft cheeks...
So pleasing to the eyes...
Are you married yet?
Dad?
How old are you?
- How?
- How old are you??
Now?
Yes. How old are you?
I'm...
- Dad?
- Approximately...
16 or 17 years old.
- You're 16?
- Yes.
I'm 44.
So how can you be 16?
What?
I'm 44.
how can you be 16?
Commander of Snake River death squads
Amir Siahaan
Maybe we can start with...
With what happened?
We exterminated communists for
3 months, day and night.
We'd take them two miles from here.
We'd dig a hole
and bury them alive.
We got lists of the prisoners who
we brought to Snake River.
Every night signed the list.
How many people did you sign off?
About...
...500-600 people.
Because this is...
an international issue,
we should be given...
We should be given a gift.
We should be rewarded
with a trip to America
If not by airplane,
a cruise will do.
We deserve it!
We did this because
America taught us to hate communists.
The wall that separate us, my love...
It's a curse we can't avoid...
I wish it wouldn't come between us.
But please don't go...
Stay with me, my love.
You're a leader in this community...
Yes.
and you're very wealthy.
Did you become rich...
from what you did?
I thank God...
I have many wealthy friends,
who helped me...
because of our heroic struggle.
For example, when I built these
buildings, they donated the materials.
So all your wealth comes
from what you did?
Yes. If you do good, you're rewarded.
You were leader of Komando Aksi
in this region...
so you were responsible for
the mass killing here.
Do people around here know that
of Komando Aksi?
Yes, they do..
The thing is...
I...
My older brother...
He was killed.
Because you...
commanded the killings.
It wasn't really me...
You were responsible,
as leader of Komando Aksi.
There were many Komando Aksi groups.
But you were the top leader.
Komando Aksi was the people united
with the army.
And we had commanders
above us...
and we were protected
by the government.
So you can't say I'm responsible.
Every...
...killer I meet...
None of them feel responsible.
They don't even feel regret...
I don't mean to offend you...
but I think...
you're avoiding
your moral responsibility.
You're trying to wash your hands of it.
Adi, where did your brother live?
Here in your region.
In which village?
In which village?
I'm sorry...
I won't tell you.
What subdistrict?
- I'm sorry...
- Just tell me. It's okay.
Please understand,
I must hide my identity...
because the killers are still
in power...
and still consider themselves heroes.
These days,
subversives are everywhere...
he known communists aren't dangerous.
It's the secret ones
who are dangerous.
Maybe what you're doing now
is a secret communist activity.
If I came to you like this
during the military dictatorship,
what would you have done to me?
You can't imagine
what would have happened.
Under the dictatorship?
When everything was tense?
You can't imagine what
would have happened.
So... Keep going.
Continue with this communist activity.
Keep going.
Mom...
I've been meeting
the people who killed Ramli.
We tried to save Ramli
by bribing them with two cows.
It didn't work
Even if they did those things,
if they felt regret...
we could forgive them.
After all, we're neighbors.
But you don't tell them
you're his brother, do you?
Yes, I do.
Be careful!
They could slip poison in your drink...
so tell them you're fasting.
Be very careful!
They'll send thugs to rip you apart.
What are you trying to do?
Just leave it.
Just bring a butterfly knife.
Or a club wrapped in newspaper.
If them try anything,
hit them in the back of the head.
Right here.
They won't get up again.
It's easy here.
- There's a bone here.
- The spine.
Sometimes you have to chop twice.
- But here's easy.
- The throat.
Keep slitting their throats.
If you chop from behind,
there's no noise.
But when you slit the throat,
there's noise.
And blood sprays out.
- Pretend this is a machete.
- Stab me.
Sorry, sir.
Cut...
Rip off his penis...
Kick... Dead...
That's like Ramli...
We had to cut off his penis.
From behind.
Chopping here.
This happened.
It's history. It's historic!
Wait a moment.
What happened to Ramli?
Film from there.
And you squat here.
I brought a knife...
To make the scene more authentic.
- It's dangerous!
- No, it's fine!
It makes it more authentic.
I should have brought a machete.
So we cut Ramli,
again and again...
and stabbed him like this...
until he looked dead.
Then I pushed him in the river...
He clung to the tree roots,
begging, "Help me!"
So we fished him out,
and killed him by cutting off his penis.
We buried him at Pelintahan...
There's a gravestone now.
Ramli was probably
a good person...
But what could we do?
It was a revolution.
What support did you
have from the army?
They waited at the road, with the truck.
They didn't come down here.
They never came down here.
They called this:
"the people's struggle".
So they kept their distance.
If the army was seen doing this,
the world would be angry.
"The army is killing the communists!"
So to protect their image,
they made it look like...
the people exterminated the communists.
But everybody knows
the army was behind it.
You were chief of
Komando Aksi.
Many people were killed, especially
at Snake River.
Did you order it?
The mass killings were...
the spontaneous action of the people.
The people hated communism.
Komando Aksi picked up the victims
from political prisons...
and with police escort brought
them to Snake River to be killed.
How can you call that "spontaneous"?
You misunderstand me...
Speaker of the regional legislature
M.Y. Basrun.
What I meant by "spontaneous" was
the people's hatred of communism.
Aren't you just saying this because
you're in the legislature?
No, I'm setting the record straight.
I'm not Rambo.
I was Secretary General
of Komando Aksi.
Or is the crime so big
you don't want to admit it?
No, I don't think it's big.
But a million people were killed.
That's politics.
politics is the process
of achieving one's ideals.
In various ways.
Right?
Since 1971, you've been
head of the legislature.
There may be hundreds
of thousands of victims here.
How do you do politics...
surrounded by the families
of people you killed??
It's like this...
If you want to talk politics...
if the victims' children didn't like me...
I would never get the most votes.
I'd never get re-elected.
This is proof:
I'm not arrogant.
You should never hurt people's feelings.
Make them feel better!
Visit them.
Formally or informally.
Don't you intimidate them
into voting for you?
Of course not.
I was born in February 1968.
And my brother was a victim...
...brutally murdered by your men.
Let me ask you something...
Do the victims' families...
...want the killings to happen again?
- Of course not.
- No? Then change!
If you keep making an issue
of the past,...
it will definitely happen again.
It will definitely happen again.
Sooner or later,
it will happen again.
"Aisyah went to..."
What's it say?...
"The canteen".
When she got home,
Aisyah ate lunch...
and took a nap.
- This is a long story.
- Aisyah went to the market.
She bought squid.
Oops, I farted.
How rude!
Keep reading.
It's about my fart.
- Where?
- Here.
It stinks!
Smells good, doesn't it?
This will be even worse!
How long haven't
you brushed...
...your teeth?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
One year.
It's been a year.
Let me see that, Aisyah.
If I knew you were going to meet...
...the killers...
I wouldn't have let you.
They...
could have kidnapped you...
Or had you killed and
dumped somewhere.
Didn't you think...
about your children?
If something bad happens to you,
what about us?
- Is uncle home?
- Yes.
- How are you?
- I'm fine.
Is uncle inside?
How are you, uncle?
- Are you well?
- Yes.
I came to check your eyes...
because you said
the were bothering you.
How is this?
More clear?
Not really, it's the same.
- Is it worse?
- No, the same.
- How old are you?
- 82.
what's the age difference with mom??
Not much.
- Were you living here in 1965?
- Yes.
That's when Ramli
was in prison here.
I was ordered...
To guard the prisoners.
Oh, you were a prison guard?
I didn't know...
what happened after
they took the prisoners away.
I was just a guard.
Did you see the prisoners
being taken away?
Of course!
Every time the truck came,
they took another 30.
When did you realize all the prisoners...
you guarded were killed?
When?
A Komando Akis member told me...
"Last night, while you were on duty,
we killed all those prisoners".
They threw the bodies
down old wells, in Snake River.
I found out from
members of Komando Aksi.
Couldn't you defend him?
Or ask them
not to kill your nephew?
No, I couldn't...
Komando Aksi...
was under army command...
and so was I.
I was ordered to guard
the prison, so I did.
But you don't feel...
...regret?
You guarded people
so they could be slaughtered.
You were part...
...of the killings.
You think I'm responsible?
I did it to defend the state,
so I don't feel that way.
The past is past.
I know it's the past,
but you don't feel regret?
If I refused, I'd be accused too.
Better just to follow orders.
The point is
I didn't kill anyone.
You know those prisoners
didn't do anything.
That means you helped
kill innocent people.
I did not help! I didn't take
a machete and slaughter people.
But you guarded them.
Yes! I was told they were bad people.
What's more,
they never pray!
In 1965, communists rushed
to the mosques...
because they were
afraid of being slaughtered.
Later, they stopped going.
Ask them yourself
if you don't believe me.
They pretend to be religious.
And you blame me!
How dare you!
Did you know your brother
guarded the prisoners?
No, I didn't know.
I went to see him.
I asked about it,
and he said he was a guard.
He never dared tell me.
- He never told you?
- No.
I said to him...
"Uncle, you indirectly helped
kill Ramli".
What did he say?
His excuse is that
he was defending the state.
Defending the state!
What nonsense.
Was he paid...
to help kill Ramli?
He also must have helped...
...take Ramli away.
He says he didn't know
Ramli was going to be killed.
He's lying!
Everybody there was involved.
I never knew about this.
I never knew.
I never knew!
Can you see?
Dad?
Open your eyes, dad.
See the light?
I think I see something.
I see very little.
I found out when I was
in junior high school...
People would say:
"Your father killed many communists".
I was proud my dad
exterminated communists.
My father is famous around here.
People respect him.
Once, I brought a woman's head
to a Chinese coffee shop.
The Chinese screamed.
- You brought a woman's head?
- Yes.
- To frighten the Chinese?
- Yes.
Why was that useful for you?
I threw it away.
No, he's asking what was the use
of frightening the Chinese?
- So they'd be scared.
- Just to scare them?
- Just to scare them.
- Then I threw it in the trash.
I kept killing them,
dumping the bodies in the river.
Their hands were tied behind
their backs.
I'd bring a glass.
Slit their throats.
Collect the blood.
There were many...
Did you do that to everyone?
No...
Two glasses was enough.
That's what we did
Where did you take the blood from?
From the throat, of course!
Pour it in a glass.
Slit their throats and collect it
in a glass.
Then drink it.
- Why did you do that?
- So I wouldn't go crazy.
Your father killed...
so many people.
And he drank their blood.
- How do you feel?
- I never knew this. It's terrifying.
That he drank blood...
Today's the first time you heard?
- How do you feel?
- What can I say?
I heard it just know. Sadistic.
Maybe because he drank it
he's still strong.
I never knew this before...
My story is...
My brother...
was killed too....
Back then...
It's getting late.
If your brother was killed,
please forgive my father.
None of his children knew.
We were very young.
I feel...
It's not your fault that
your father is a murderer.
Whatever he is,
he is your father.
- It's getting late!
- Be patient.
I feel I know you.
Have we met before?
At work?
I think I know you too.
We know each other now.
We're like family.
Your kids should go to the mosque.
Please forgive my father.
Think of us as family.
He's old now.
Consider him your own father.
When you pass by, please visit us.
I have no mother anymore.
I take care of him now.
He's senile.
He doesn't remember much.
He's old and senile.
I quit my job
to take care of him.
When visitors come,
he doesn't recognize them.
He can't even remember his family.
I take care of him now.
I have to go now.
Goodbye, sir.
Do you remember Ramli?
Do you remember?
Do you remember your dead son?
Do you remember?
- Who are you?
- It's me.
Do you remember your son Ramli?
- Who?
- Ramli. He was taken away.
Who is Ramli?
He was taken away by the mob.
Do you remember or not?
- Remember what?
- Your son.
He was taken away.
- Whose son?
- Your son. He was taken away.
Do you remember?
Remember who?
We killed 32 people here.
I wrote this book
about what I did.
Joshua asked for a copy.
It's very important if you
want higher education...
So people remember us.
Our descendants...
This is a complete record
of what happened here.
Do you want a copy, too?
I illustrated it myself...
I made sketches to
bring the story to life.
Oh, this is Snake River.
- The iron bridge... My God...
- Oh, yes.
After it was all over,
who would buy fish?
Nobody would buy fish or clams.
Nobody would eat fish.
The fish were eating human bodies.
Your husband killed
32 people here.
I wanted to meet your husband...
but since he passed away...
at least I can meet you,
and your sons.
Of the 32 people killed here...
the worst story
is about my brother Ramli.
He was chopped in the shoulder...
He was stabbed in the stomach.
His intestine spilled out...
He was stabbed in the back.
But he managed to run home.
From the front yard,
he called for mom.
She brought him inside,
but in the morning they took him away.
Your husband took him away.
Because your husband was commander.
Your husband told mom,
that he would take Ramli
to the hospital.
But in the truck,
they chopped him up.
Oh God...
Then they cut off his penis...
and finally he died.
Your husband even drew pictures of it.
I never saw this book.
Did you get it from my husband?
Yes, don't you remember?
This is my brother.
This is my mom.
This is my brother.
This is what your husband drew.
We know nothing about this.
My husband never told us.
There was a book,
but we never read it.
My husband said
he never killed anyone.
- But it's in his book.
- Really?
- Yes.
- We know nothing about it.
We didn't know what he was doing.
We were just kids.
We never knew,
and he never told us.
I don't want to make you
uncomfortable...
Because I've been ill.
But Adi is here to speak openly...
Everyone around here is friends.
Even if their parents were killed,
we're all good friends.
Now the wound is open.
Because Joshua makes this film...
and my father wrote this book,
the wound is open.
- Otherwise, you wouldn't know me, right?
- of course I knew.
I knew all about this family.
All the victims' families know
who the killers are.
But that doesn't mean we want revenge.
Do you want revenge?
If I wanted revenge,
I wouldn't come like this.
Who knows?
Maybe that's why Joshua came!
If I were in your shoes...
Excuse me.
If I met a perpetrator,
or his sons...
Enough! My mom is ill,
and this will traumatize her.
Forget the past.
Let's all get along
like the military dictatorship taught us.
You want us to be open.
But how can we? We know nothing.
Look at this, please.
Just press the space bar.
The people we killed
on the plantation... like Ramli...
This is Snake River.
- The iron bridge... My God....
- Oh, yes.
This reminds me of my father.
I don't want to see this.
Let's just talk.
I can't stand this.
Turn it off!
Why are you shouting?
Is there anything else you want
to say, Adi?
No.
Adi, we apologize.
We feel the same way you do.
Just one more clip.
I don't care.
I know nothing about this.
Do you want this to end well or not?
- We know nothing.
- Here he explains...
Look, we know nothing about this.
Don't make trouble, Joshua.
Have pity on him.
He's dead and buried...
I welcomed you here, Joshua,
but I don't like you anymore.
Oh, no...
Where am I?
Oh, no.
I'm in somebody else's house...
How did I get here?
Help me!
I've wandered into a stranger's house.
Help!
I'm in a stranger's house!
He's going to beat me up.
You survived.
Let it go.
Leave it to God.
I can't hold it in.
My son is gone.
But you survived.
He crawled home through
the rice fields...
Then they came for him...
They said they'd
take him to the hospital.
I knew it was a lie...
I begged to go with him,
but they refused.
That's the true story of Ramli.
And the others have similar stories...
...but not the same!
But that's what we experienced.
That's what happened.
Well, that's how it is...
Life on earth.
Feel free to take a photo.
I'm trying to talk to you...
But you keep running...
This one comes, and falls...
You don't want to move...
Aren't you tired?
Sleep...
I can't see you.
Are you there?
I want to see you.
Come out.
Are you really there?
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.
I can't sleep when he hugs me,
so I kick him, and leaves me alone.
Every night, we're load
our quota onto a truck...
and drive to Snake River.
Leaders of the village death squad
Amir Hasan and Inong
The truck would stop here.
We'd pull our prisoners
off the truck...
and drag them 100 meters downstream.
Some screamed. Some cried.
Some begged for mercy.
We already beat them on the truck...
so they couldn't run away
once they got here.
This road was packed
with Komando Aksi members.
But it was night!
And outsiders weren't allowed in.
Only us.
Each district would take turns.
For example,
let's say you're a victim,
You have no strength left...
- Because we beat you.
- I'm limp.
Please squat, sir.
- Now start to beg...
- But I'd be sitting, not squatting.
They drag me by the legs...
- But I'm not wearing clothes.
- No clothes.
Only underwear.
- How as he pulled?
- Like this!
He would be lying down.
His hands would be tied.
"Drag him!
To the riverbank!"
He's totally helpless now.
It's pretty.
It smells lovely!
it smells lovely...
but it's subtle.
So this is the place?
They brought us out here,
and took us that way.
Survivor from Snake River
Kemat.
- Were you lined up?
- Yes, single line.
Were people watching like this?
No! People were too scared to watch.
- No one came out?
- No way.
No one dared.
Is this where Ramli realized
he would be killed?
Yes, he creamed for help..
He screamed,
"They're going to kill us?"
He kept shouting,
"They're going to kill us all."
- Where did you scape?
- By that house.
I could hear screaming
and gunshots.
Bang! bang! bang!
So this is where Ramli
was hacked up.
And this man jumped from the truck...
and escaped into the plantation.
How do you feel
coming back here?
The past is past. I've accepted it.
I don't want to remember.
It's just asking for trouble.
It's covered up.
Why open it again?
The wound has healed.
Is there a path down to the river?
So we dragged them down this hill.
If they didn't want to be dragged,
we threw them.
Like this...
It's slippery.
Now we're safe.
"Help! Mercy!"
We'd drag them.
Some of them screamed.
"Please, sir! Have mercy!"
- But we don't care...
- "Help, please!"
In fact, we beat him again
to shut him up,
because his screams
could frighten my men.
Please don't kill me!"
But we keep pulling him...
There's another man
pulling me from behind.
From here, can the prisoners
see the blood?
Yes.
Yes, because the place
was lit by torches.
- So you know you're about to be killed?
- Yes.
You can see the other's blood?
- Yes, he knows.
- Because others went first.
So he's given up hope.
"I'm about to die" he's thinking.
"I'd better accept it".
This is the spot.
There were boards here.
There was a pier.
I'd walk out there...
Like this.
Some were lying down...
Others were bent over.
The executioner comes and hacks...
Hacks through my neck..
- The blood!
- Blood sprays everywhere.
After my head's cut off,
I'm kicked into the river.
- Kicked that way. He floats...
- So does my head.
His body bobs up and down
Slowly...
My old body...
is heavy now.
May peace be upon...
those who rest here.
My name is Kemat.
I'm here with a friend.
May God have mercy on us all.
May God bless...
everyone resting here,
my friends,
and family.
It is up to God,
to punish those who hurt,
our friends,
and families.
It is not for us to punish.
Oh God, grant us peace.
Inong
Leader of the village death squad
- How old are you?
- 72. Almost a century.
My ID card is now for life.
No need to renew it.
- Excuse me.
- Go ahead.
How did you meet Joshua?
He came here seven years ago.
Your left eye is covered.
so we're testing your right eye.
Look in the distance.
- Is it sharper?
- It's sharper.
Are your neighbors afraid of you?
Most people here were communists.
They know...
they're powerless against me.
Because I'm part of a mass movement.
Even if most people here
were communists farmers...
they're scared of me.
- So people here, are afraid of you.
- Yes.
Is this better?
Yes.
If we didn't drink human blood,
we'd go crazy.
Many went crazy.
Is this more clear?
No, it's the same.
- How about this?
- A bit blurry.
Tell me about people going crazy.
Some killed so many people,
they went crazy.
One man climbed a palm tree,
each morning.
to do the call prayer.
He killed too many people...
There's only one way to avoid it:
drink your victim's blood,
or go crazy.
But if you drink blood,
you can do anything!
- How do you feel...
- Both salty and sweet...
Human blood.
- Excuse me?
- Human blood is salty and sweet.
I know from experience...
if you cut off a woman's breast,
it looks like a coconut milk filter.
Full of holes.
There was a communists woman.
She lived with her brother,
but he wasn't communist.
He didn't want to kill his own sister,
so he sent her to me.
- So you...
- Yes, he sent her to me.
Did you cut your victims more than once?
No, only once!
You must not cut humans twice.
Then, why...
did you cut off
the woman's breast?
Why not?
You cut off her breast.
- And then?
- Her throat.
- That's twice.
- It doesn't matter.
If they're
bad people, you can hack them up..
- Who were the communists?
- The Indonesian Communist Party.
You said...
Communist Party members
had no religion.
They had sex with each other's wives.
So people say.
- That's only a rumor.
- They said it themselves!
When we interrogated them.
- But Islam doesn't teach killing.
- No, it doesn't.
Muhammad never killed anyone.
He was against killing.
But you're allowed
to kill your enemies.
So you...
Why are you asking these questions?
are you trying to make me angry?
I know what you're doing.
Your questions are to deep.
I don't like deep questions!
I can cancel this!
I don't mind.
You ask much deeper questions
than Joshua ever asked..
I don't like it.
I don't like talking about politics.
- You keep talking about politics!
- I know nothing about politics.
You say that,
but your questions are political!
And I have no more time.
I'm going to the mosque.
I see.
Okay. I will make you glasses.
I know your prescription.
- I'll choose frames that suit you.
- Thank you.
Please make them for reading.
How do you see these events?
It's over.
Everything is safe now.
The past is past.
Luckily I drank blood.
If not, I'd be crazy,
calling to prayer from trees.
But something disturbs me.
I'm not here to harm you...
but to reveal...
the true history.
All this time, history
has been distorted.
The people you killed had no religion.
It's a lie.
It's only propaganda,
to give religious people like you
an excuse to kill.
"Communists have sex with each other's wives"...
It's a lie.
It's propaganda!
But you're talking politics again!
It's bad!
Joshua, stop filming!
Why do you always talk about politics?
Always politics!
Why are they moving?
There's a butterfly inside.
- Was your tooth pulled yesterday?
- Yes.
- Was it loose?
- No.
- How did they pull it?
- With pliers.
And?
And...
And... I don't know.
"Mom!"
"Is that you, Ramli?"
"Have you come back?" "Yes, mom".
"Come here, mom."
I kissed him.
I took off his clothes.
He was covered with blood.
He was ripped open..
"Mom, can I have coffee?"
But when the water boiled,
they came to take him away.
They said they'd
take him to the hospital.
Of course they weren't
taking him to the hospital!
After all, he was
running away from them.
I kissed him...
"Goodbye, mom"...
"They won't let me
come with you, Ramli".
Pray that the killers' children suffer.
Their children and grandchildren.
The people who killed you...
Pray...
...they get killed.
May they suffer...
The ones who killed you...
Your long, wavy hair...
Your soft cheeks...
So pleasing to the eyes...
Are you married yet?
Dad?
How old are you?
- How?
- How old are you??
Now?
Yes. How old are you?
I'm...
- Dad?
- Approximately...
16 or 17 years old.
- You're 16?
- Yes.
I'm 44.
So how can you be 16?
What?
I'm 44.
how can you be 16?
Commander of Snake River death squads
Amir Siahaan
Maybe we can start with...
With what happened?
We exterminated communists for
3 months, day and night.
We'd take them two miles from here.
We'd dig a hole
and bury them alive.
We got lists of the prisoners who
we brought to Snake River.
Every night signed the list.
How many people did you sign off?
About...
...500-600 people.
Because this is...
an international issue,
we should be given...
We should be given a gift.
We should be rewarded
with a trip to America
If not by airplane,
a cruise will do.
We deserve it!
We did this because
America taught us to hate communists.
The wall that separate us, my love...
It's a curse we can't avoid...
I wish it wouldn't come between us.
But please don't go...
Stay with me, my love.
You're a leader in this community...
Yes.
and you're very wealthy.
Did you become rich...
from what you did?
I thank God...
I have many wealthy friends,
who helped me...
because of our heroic struggle.
For example, when I built these
buildings, they donated the materials.
So all your wealth comes
from what you did?
Yes. If you do good, you're rewarded.
You were leader of Komando Aksi
in this region...
so you were responsible for
the mass killing here.
Do people around here know that
of Komando Aksi?
Yes, they do..
The thing is...
I...
My older brother...
He was killed.
Because you...
commanded the killings.
It wasn't really me...
You were responsible,
as leader of Komando Aksi.
There were many Komando Aksi groups.
But you were the top leader.
Komando Aksi was the people united
with the army.
And we had commanders
above us...
and we were protected
by the government.
So you can't say I'm responsible.
Every...
...killer I meet...
None of them feel responsible.
They don't even feel regret...
I don't mean to offend you...
but I think...
you're avoiding
your moral responsibility.
You're trying to wash your hands of it.
Adi, where did your brother live?
Here in your region.
In which village?
In which village?
I'm sorry...
I won't tell you.
What subdistrict?
- I'm sorry...
- Just tell me. It's okay.
Please understand,
I must hide my identity...
because the killers are still
in power...
and still consider themselves heroes.
These days,
subversives are everywhere...
he known communists aren't dangerous.
It's the secret ones
who are dangerous.
Maybe what you're doing now
is a secret communist activity.
If I came to you like this
during the military dictatorship,
what would you have done to me?
You can't imagine
what would have happened.
Under the dictatorship?
When everything was tense?
You can't imagine what
would have happened.
So... Keep going.
Continue with this communist activity.
Keep going.
Mom...
I've been meeting
the people who killed Ramli.
We tried to save Ramli
by bribing them with two cows.
It didn't work
Even if they did those things,
if they felt regret...
we could forgive them.
After all, we're neighbors.
But you don't tell them
you're his brother, do you?
Yes, I do.
Be careful!
They could slip poison in your drink...
so tell them you're fasting.
Be very careful!
They'll send thugs to rip you apart.
What are you trying to do?
Just leave it.
Just bring a butterfly knife.
Or a club wrapped in newspaper.
If them try anything,
hit them in the back of the head.
Right here.
They won't get up again.
It's easy here.
- There's a bone here.
- The spine.
Sometimes you have to chop twice.
- But here's easy.
- The throat.
Keep slitting their throats.
If you chop from behind,
there's no noise.
But when you slit the throat,
there's noise.
And blood sprays out.
- Pretend this is a machete.
- Stab me.
Sorry, sir.
Cut...
Rip off his penis...
Kick... Dead...
That's like Ramli...
We had to cut off his penis.
From behind.
Chopping here.
This happened.
It's history. It's historic!
Wait a moment.
What happened to Ramli?
Film from there.
And you squat here.
I brought a knife...
To make the scene more authentic.
- It's dangerous!
- No, it's fine!
It makes it more authentic.
I should have brought a machete.
So we cut Ramli,
again and again...
and stabbed him like this...
until he looked dead.
Then I pushed him in the river...
He clung to the tree roots,
begging, "Help me!"
So we fished him out,
and killed him by cutting off his penis.
We buried him at Pelintahan...
There's a gravestone now.
Ramli was probably
a good person...
But what could we do?
It was a revolution.
What support did you
have from the army?
They waited at the road, with the truck.
They didn't come down here.
They never came down here.
They called this:
"the people's struggle".
So they kept their distance.
If the army was seen doing this,
the world would be angry.
"The army is killing the communists!"
So to protect their image,
they made it look like...
the people exterminated the communists.
But everybody knows
the army was behind it.
You were chief of
Komando Aksi.
Many people were killed, especially
at Snake River.
Did you order it?
The mass killings were...
the spontaneous action of the people.
The people hated communism.
Komando Aksi picked up the victims
from political prisons...
and with police escort brought
them to Snake River to be killed.
How can you call that "spontaneous"?
You misunderstand me...
Speaker of the regional legislature
M.Y. Basrun.
What I meant by "spontaneous" was
the people's hatred of communism.
Aren't you just saying this because
you're in the legislature?
No, I'm setting the record straight.
I'm not Rambo.
I was Secretary General
of Komando Aksi.
Or is the crime so big
you don't want to admit it?
No, I don't think it's big.
But a million people were killed.
That's politics.
politics is the process
of achieving one's ideals.
In various ways.
Right?
Since 1971, you've been
head of the legislature.
There may be hundreds
of thousands of victims here.
How do you do politics...
surrounded by the families
of people you killed??
It's like this...
If you want to talk politics...
if the victims' children didn't like me...
I would never get the most votes.
I'd never get re-elected.
This is proof:
I'm not arrogant.
You should never hurt people's feelings.
Make them feel better!
Visit them.
Formally or informally.
Don't you intimidate them
into voting for you?
Of course not.
I was born in February 1968.
And my brother was a victim...
...brutally murdered by your men.
Let me ask you something...
Do the victims' families...
...want the killings to happen again?
- Of course not.
- No? Then change!
If you keep making an issue
of the past,...
it will definitely happen again.
It will definitely happen again.
Sooner or later,
it will happen again.
"Aisyah went to..."
What's it say?...
"The canteen".
When she got home,
Aisyah ate lunch...
and took a nap.
- This is a long story.
- Aisyah went to the market.
She bought squid.
Oops, I farted.
How rude!
Keep reading.
It's about my fart.
- Where?
- Here.
It stinks!
Smells good, doesn't it?
This will be even worse!
How long haven't
you brushed...
...your teeth?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...
One year.
It's been a year.
Let me see that, Aisyah.
If I knew you were going to meet...
...the killers...
I wouldn't have let you.
They...
could have kidnapped you...
Or had you killed and
dumped somewhere.
Didn't you think...
about your children?
If something bad happens to you,
what about us?
- Is uncle home?
- Yes.
- How are you?
- I'm fine.
Is uncle inside?
How are you, uncle?
- Are you well?
- Yes.
I came to check your eyes...
because you said
the were bothering you.
How is this?
More clear?
Not really, it's the same.
- Is it worse?
- No, the same.
- How old are you?
- 82.
what's the age difference with mom??
Not much.
- Were you living here in 1965?
- Yes.
That's when Ramli
was in prison here.
I was ordered...
To guard the prisoners.
Oh, you were a prison guard?
I didn't know...
what happened after
they took the prisoners away.
I was just a guard.
Did you see the prisoners
being taken away?
Of course!
Every time the truck came,
they took another 30.
When did you realize all the prisoners...
you guarded were killed?
When?
A Komando Akis member told me...
"Last night, while you were on duty,
we killed all those prisoners".
They threw the bodies
down old wells, in Snake River.
I found out from
members of Komando Aksi.
Couldn't you defend him?
Or ask them
not to kill your nephew?
No, I couldn't...
Komando Aksi...
was under army command...
and so was I.
I was ordered to guard
the prison, so I did.
But you don't feel...
...regret?
You guarded people
so they could be slaughtered.
You were part...
...of the killings.
You think I'm responsible?
I did it to defend the state,
so I don't feel that way.
The past is past.
I know it's the past,
but you don't feel regret?
If I refused, I'd be accused too.
Better just to follow orders.
The point is
I didn't kill anyone.
You know those prisoners
didn't do anything.
That means you helped
kill innocent people.
I did not help! I didn't take
a machete and slaughter people.
But you guarded them.
Yes! I was told they were bad people.
What's more,
they never pray!
In 1965, communists rushed
to the mosques...
because they were
afraid of being slaughtered.
Later, they stopped going.
Ask them yourself
if you don't believe me.
They pretend to be religious.
And you blame me!
How dare you!
Did you know your brother
guarded the prisoners?
No, I didn't know.
I went to see him.
I asked about it,
and he said he was a guard.
He never dared tell me.
- He never told you?
- No.
I said to him...
"Uncle, you indirectly helped
kill Ramli".
What did he say?
His excuse is that
he was defending the state.
Defending the state!
What nonsense.
Was he paid...
to help kill Ramli?
He also must have helped...
...take Ramli away.
He says he didn't know
Ramli was going to be killed.
He's lying!
Everybody there was involved.
I never knew about this.
I never knew.
I never knew!
Can you see?
Dad?
Open your eyes, dad.
See the light?
I think I see something.
I see very little.
I found out when I was
in junior high school...
People would say:
"Your father killed many communists".
I was proud my dad
exterminated communists.
My father is famous around here.
People respect him.
Once, I brought a woman's head
to a Chinese coffee shop.
The Chinese screamed.
- You brought a woman's head?
- Yes.
- To frighten the Chinese?
- Yes.
Why was that useful for you?
I threw it away.
No, he's asking what was the use
of frightening the Chinese?
- So they'd be scared.
- Just to scare them?
- Just to scare them.
- Then I threw it in the trash.
I kept killing them,
dumping the bodies in the river.
Their hands were tied behind
their backs.
I'd bring a glass.
Slit their throats.
Collect the blood.
There were many...
Did you do that to everyone?
No...
Two glasses was enough.
That's what we did
Where did you take the blood from?
From the throat, of course!
Pour it in a glass.
Slit their throats and collect it
in a glass.
Then drink it.
- Why did you do that?
- So I wouldn't go crazy.
Your father killed...
so many people.
And he drank their blood.
- How do you feel?
- I never knew this. It's terrifying.
That he drank blood...
Today's the first time you heard?
- How do you feel?
- What can I say?
I heard it just know. Sadistic.
Maybe because he drank it
he's still strong.
I never knew this before...
My story is...
My brother...
was killed too....
Back then...
It's getting late.
If your brother was killed,
please forgive my father.
None of his children knew.
We were very young.
I feel...
It's not your fault that
your father is a murderer.
Whatever he is,
he is your father.
- It's getting late!
- Be patient.
I feel I know you.
Have we met before?
At work?
I think I know you too.
We know each other now.
We're like family.
Your kids should go to the mosque.
Please forgive my father.
Think of us as family.
He's old now.
Consider him your own father.
When you pass by, please visit us.
I have no mother anymore.
I take care of him now.
He's senile.
He doesn't remember much.
He's old and senile.
I quit my job
to take care of him.
When visitors come,
he doesn't recognize them.
He can't even remember his family.
I take care of him now.
I have to go now.
Goodbye, sir.
Do you remember Ramli?
Do you remember?
Do you remember your dead son?
Do you remember?
- Who are you?
- It's me.
Do you remember your son Ramli?
- Who?
- Ramli. He was taken away.
Who is Ramli?
He was taken away by the mob.
Do you remember or not?
- Remember what?
- Your son.
He was taken away.
- Whose son?
- Your son. He was taken away.
Do you remember?
Remember who?
We killed 32 people here.
I wrote this book
about what I did.
Joshua asked for a copy.
It's very important if you
want higher education...
So people remember us.
Our descendants...
This is a complete record
of what happened here.
Do you want a copy, too?
I illustrated it myself...
I made sketches to
bring the story to life.
Oh, this is Snake River.
- The iron bridge... My God...
- Oh, yes.
After it was all over,
who would buy fish?
Nobody would buy fish or clams.
Nobody would eat fish.
The fish were eating human bodies.
Your husband killed
32 people here.
I wanted to meet your husband...
but since he passed away...
at least I can meet you,
and your sons.
Of the 32 people killed here...
the worst story
is about my brother Ramli.
He was chopped in the shoulder...
He was stabbed in the stomach.
His intestine spilled out...
He was stabbed in the back.
But he managed to run home.
From the front yard,
he called for mom.
She brought him inside,
but in the morning they took him away.
Your husband took him away.
Because your husband was commander.
Your husband told mom,
that he would take Ramli
to the hospital.
But in the truck,
they chopped him up.
Oh God...
Then they cut off his penis...
and finally he died.
Your husband even drew pictures of it.
I never saw this book.
Did you get it from my husband?
Yes, don't you remember?
This is my brother.
This is my mom.
This is my brother.
This is what your husband drew.
We know nothing about this.
My husband never told us.
There was a book,
but we never read it.
My husband said
he never killed anyone.
- But it's in his book.
- Really?
- Yes.
- We know nothing about it.
We didn't know what he was doing.
We were just kids.
We never knew,
and he never told us.
I don't want to make you
uncomfortable...
Because I've been ill.
But Adi is here to speak openly...
Everyone around here is friends.
Even if their parents were killed,
we're all good friends.
Now the wound is open.
Because Joshua makes this film...
and my father wrote this book,
the wound is open.
- Otherwise, you wouldn't know me, right?
- of course I knew.
I knew all about this family.
All the victims' families know
who the killers are.
But that doesn't mean we want revenge.
Do you want revenge?
If I wanted revenge,
I wouldn't come like this.
Who knows?
Maybe that's why Joshua came!
If I were in your shoes...
Excuse me.
If I met a perpetrator,
or his sons...
Enough! My mom is ill,
and this will traumatize her.
Forget the past.
Let's all get along
like the military dictatorship taught us.
You want us to be open.
But how can we? We know nothing.
Look at this, please.
Just press the space bar.
The people we killed
on the plantation... like Ramli...
This is Snake River.
- The iron bridge... My God....
- Oh, yes.
This reminds me of my father.
I don't want to see this.
Let's just talk.
I can't stand this.
Turn it off!
Why are you shouting?
Is there anything else you want
to say, Adi?
No.
Adi, we apologize.
We feel the same way you do.
Just one more clip.
I don't care.
I know nothing about this.
Do you want this to end well or not?
- We know nothing.
- Here he explains...
Look, we know nothing about this.
Don't make trouble, Joshua.
Have pity on him.
He's dead and buried...
I welcomed you here, Joshua,
but I don't like you anymore.
Oh, no...
Where am I?
Oh, no.
I'm in somebody else's house...
How did I get here?
Help me!
I've wandered into a stranger's house.
Help!
I'm in a stranger's house!
He's going to beat me up.
You survived.
Let it go.
Leave it to God.
I can't hold it in.
My son is gone.
But you survived.
He crawled home through
the rice fields...
Then they came for him...
They said they'd
take him to the hospital.
I knew it was a lie...
I begged to go with him,
but they refused.
That's the true story of Ramli.
And the others have similar stories...
...but not the same!
But that's what we experienced.
That's what happened.
Well, that's how it is...
Life on earth.
Feel free to take a photo.
I'm trying to talk to you...
But you keep running...
This one comes, and falls...
You don't want to move...
Aren't you tired?
Sleep...
I can't see you.
Are you there?
I want to see you.
Come out.
Are you really there?