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    Back to The Business

    The Business

    Making 'The Act of Killing'

    Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer spent over eight years making his Oscar nominated documentary The Act of Killing . In one of the most surreal films to hit theaters in years, Indonesian death squad leaders who carried out hundreds of murders during the "Communist" purge in the 1960's re-enact their crimes as if they're acting in a Hollywood movie.

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    By Kim Masters • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer spent over eight years making his Oscar nominated documentary The Act of Killing. In one of the most surreal films to hit theaters in years, Indonesian death squad leaders who carried out hundreds of murders during the "Communist" purge in the 1960's re-enact their crimes as if they're acting in a Hollywood movie. Oppenheimer talks with Kim Masters about how these elaborately staged re-enactments emerged naturally from interviews with the killers who bragged about how they killed. Although Oppenheimer's film didn't get a conventional theatrical release in Indonesia, he did mount a grassroots release that's resulted in thousands of screenings and has prompted the media in that country to break a long-held silence on this tragic history.

    The full episode

    3 of 4
    Julie Delpy Defies Skeptics; Making 'The Act of Killing'
    1. 1:21Special Breaking News Banter
    2. 6:45Hollywood News Banter
    3. 6:46Making 'The Act of Killing'You’re reading this
    4. 19:14Julie Delpy
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Kim Masters

      partner/writer at Puck News, host of KCRW's “The Business.”

    • KCRW placeholder

      John Horn

      Los Angeles Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      Darby Maloney

      Producer

    • KCRW placeholder

      Joshua Oppenheimer

      director

      CultureEntertainmentArts

    The full episode

    3 of 4
    Julie Delpy Defies Skeptics; Making 'The Act of Killing'
    1. 1:21Special Breaking News Banter
    2. 6:45Hollywood News Banter
    3. 6:46Making 'The Act of Killing'You’re reading this
    4. 19:14Julie Delpy
    Back to The Business