The Power of Propaganda

JUSTIFYING THE ACT OF KILLING

I've just watched this amazing film called The Act of Killing which features the gangsters who were responsible for the Indonesian killings of 1965-1966. This is an amazing documentary, in that it gets the people who were feared/revered & ultimately seen (and believed themselves) to be heros for halting/wiping out the communist party and anyone one suspected of being connected to it, to tell their story.

These were turbulent times. The fear of spreading communism and in particular stemming from a paranoid America, spurred on campaigns of propaganda to depict the communists as evil and cruel.

Indonesia had gone through recent economic and social collapse in the 50's and changes were underway to establish this group of islands with different cultures and religions under one national umbrella and identity. What follows is a nightmare scenario, with death squads ruling the roost and all sanctioned by the government. 

The propaganda film watched annually on the 30 September by Indonesians, to commemorate the military coup G30S and bringing about the New Order, translated as Betrayal of Indonesia Communist Party was used as a way to brainwash the youth and justify the killing of many innocent Indonesians, a lot of who were of Chinese origin. 

What's interesting and comes through in this film is how the main characters, now in their 70's, are coming to terms & dealing with their guilt. They recount their stories through a series of bizarre reenactments - using their love of American movies both as inspiration for the actual way they killed and as a colourful representation for displaying to the world their actions. The main Character Anwar, haunted by the ghosts from his past, is weakly holding on to the propaganda film as justification for his killings and we watch as realisation dawns on him that what he did was wrong and he's left to face his demons. 

I was fascinated at this film. Not only is it shockingly raw in showing our human nature, but also entertaining and bizarrely amusing. I laughed at the absurdity of the situations many times and liked the main character, Anwar despite what heinous acts he'd committed in his past.

History repeating

I've never been to Indonesia and not learned anything about their history/culture until now. On further reading about the 30 September coup, it appears MI6 had a hand in spreading fear and mistrust of the communist party and likely more involvement in manipulating and instigating. What I found quite disturbing are the similarities happening in Indonesia to the German Nazi party & SS - in particular the Pancasila Youth. Some of the footage shows the leaders reinforcing an extreme aversion to communism - citing the importance of being a free man or 'gangster' at the foundations of freedom. It seems madness that this movement has not only survived to this day but has gained more strength in numbers!