Untitled

[jacqteo1234]

A Brutal Truth

I found the Act of Killing to be a fascinatingly honest film, which I think says a lot about the human character. Especially in the beginning of the film, Anwar Congo, the Indonesian gangster and death squad leader at the center of our story, was more than happy to share every detail about how he came to be the most notorious man in Indonesia. He happily described his political ascent from being a street movie ticket scalper to becoming a cold blooded political killer with no reservations, primarily because Anwar was proud of his work. Pride, it appears is the most honest emotion, our storytellers want the audience to know the truth because they are proud of their past, proud of their roles as killers and gangsters that rival their Hollywood idols. Pride tells the whole story because the storyteller wants you to know every detail, every smart move they made, every government official they met and every communist they killed. The audience should see what incredible men they were for their work against the communists, so they tell you every painstaking detail. Throughout this class we have seen a lot of emotional reposes to truth and storytelling, hurt and the pain of deception from Bechdel, familial happiness from Polley, nostalgia from Didion; yet none of these storytellers could achieve an ultimate objective truth. Anwar and his cronies did because they was no confusion in their emotional connection to the story, no regret and nothing to hide, they told the audience everything because despite the heinousness of their actions they are proud of their work and they want people to know the full story. As uncomfortable as the criminals openness and pride is to the audience, we are getting a truthful account, they are showing us everything they have accomplished.

[jacqteo1234]

Unraveling an Unreachable Past

Stories We Tell has so far been the most effective primary source in explaining the complex and non-linear process of truth finding. This film attempts to answer two different questions, who is Diane and who is Sarah’s father. The former is ultimately impossible to fully answer, as the only person who can truly answer that question passed away years earlier. The documentary still approaches this question knowing that they can never uncover the full truth, bravely taking on the task of telling all the different perspectives on Diane’s life no matter how contradictory or diluted by memory. That’s what makes the process of answering these two questions so exciting, the audience feels fully immersed in the mystery they are attempting to unravel. 

This mystery is extended by the vintage home videos of Diane, Michael, Harry, and the rest of the family we discover are actually reenactments towards the end of the film. Maybe I was just being oblivious to the fact these weren't authentic films, but I was deeply affected when I realized they weren’t real. Those clips really connected me to all the different facets of Diane, I felt like I understood her spirit through these clips and finding out they weren’t really her kinda crushed the illusion and connection. In a way, I guess that could have been the purpose of emphasizing the nature of the reenactments, the audience experiences the families realization that they can never really understand Diane, there are simply too many layers to her life and personality.

[jacqteo1234]

Immaturity Lost in Translation

What stood out the most to me during this final half of In Cold Blood was the immaturity and naivety of both Perry and Dick, and how these shared character traits translate into different perceptions of their individual natures and moral characters. In the case of Dick, his immaturity and childish actions illustrate the nature of a sociopath, corrupted and completely inconsiderate of any human life besides his own. This species of immaturity is bested demonstrated in two incidents that occurred during the men’s travels after the murders, in his attempts to pick up a young girl in Miami and his quick decision to fully accuse Perry of the murders. The first incident illustrates sexual immaturity rather than prowess, drawing parallels between the childishness of the intended victim and Dick, a wolf willing to defile a child with little hesitation. The confession paints Dick as fearful child willing to sacrifice his partner to save himself, an act of pure cowardice and depravity. While Dick’s childish actions make him an even more distasteful character, Perry’s childishness is intended to stir up sympathy in the audience. In contrast to the immature and corrupted sexuality of Dick, Perry’s sexual immaturity translates into gentleness and kindness, wit his disgust in Dick’s desires to rape Nancy and seduce the young Miami girl, going so far as to threaten Dick in their benefit. Additionally, Perry’s child-like dreams in prison of the yellow parrot that will rescue him from his cell convincingly demonstrate his stunted emotional growth, cause by childhood disarray and trauma that, when compared to the simple immature immorality of Dick, makes him a sorrowful character, one the audience connects with in pity and almost desires to save. Overall, I found the way these two dichotomous characters were connected through their shared immaturity interesting and a good example of the art of character creation.