The Act of Killing (Jagal)

Peace! Happiness! Smile!

1, 234! Smile! More teeth!

Don't let the camera catch you looking bad!

Smile! 1, 2, 3, 4!

Real joy, not just pleasure!

And natural beauty! This isn’t fake!

Okay, peace! Peace! Peace!

I'm looking for an actress...

...an actress to play a mother.

Old ladies like you...

When you see movie stars on TV-

you must dream of becoming one.

- No, I don't. - Why not?

- You have nothing else to do. - No, I'm busy.

These women won't agree to play communists like this.

It might work if we invite them to your house first...

But if we ask them right here, they'll be afraid.

People might think they really are communists.

I disagree... In my neighborhood everybody would do it.

Then let's go there instead. It's impossible here.

This whole area was communist.

We're looking for women with children -

to play communist wives.

You try to prevent us from burning down your house.

But in the end we burn it down.

'Mother, they burned our house down!'

Like that.

And don't worry if you touch her breasts. You're still a kid.

Ready?

Kill them!

No!

- Destroy their house! - No, please don't!

Burn it!

Kill!

Cry! Weep!

Don't burn my house.

Keep crying!

Okay cut, cut!

Whether this ends up on the big screen -

- or only on TV it doesn't matter.

- But we have to show... - That this is the history!

This is who we are!

So in the future people will remember!

It doesn't have to be a big film -

- like Rank Organization, Paramount Pictures, MGM...

We, in our simple way step by step -

will tell the story-

- of what we did when we were young!

Excuse me...

There's many ghosts here, because many people were killed here.

- They died unnatural deaths. - Unnatural deaths.

They arrived perfectly healthy.

When they got here they were beaten up... and died.

At first, we beat them to death... But there was too much blood.

There was so much blood here...

So when we cleaned it up, it smelled awful.

To avoid the blood, I used this system.

Can I show you?

Sit there.

Face that way.

We have to re-enact this properly.

This is how to do it -

without too much blood.

I've tried to forget all this with good music... Dancing...

Feeling happy..

A little alcohol...

A little marijuana...

A little... what do you call it? Ecstasy..

Once I'd get drunk, I'd 'fly' and feel happy.

Cha cha.

He's a happy man.

Anwar Congo, from the paramilitary group.

You've heard of him? From the Medan Cinema.

Now that I'm governor, I stab him if he threatens me.

Everyone was scared of him.

The only one not scared was me-

- because he looked after me when I was a kid.

When I was in high school -

- I was the only one not scared of him -

- because I didn't think of him as a big gangster.

But when people heard his name, they'd be terrified.

- Why? - Because he's one of the killers.

Now, the communists' children are starting to speak out -

trying to reverse the history.

One of them wrote, 'I’m Proud to be the Child of a Communist.'

But this won't last long -

because the people won't accept it.

Communism will never be accepted here, because -

- we have so many gangsters, and that's a good thing.

The word 'gangster' comes from English. 'Free men'.

Thugs want freedom to do things, even if they're wrong...

But if we know how to work with them -

all we have to do is direct them.

We were gangsters. We didn't have real jobs.

So we'd do anything for money..

...just to buy nice clothes.

This was the cinema -

where I worked.

I'd stand here, scalping tickets and showing off.

When films were popular, we'd scalp tickets.

But when the communists were strong -

- they demanded a ban on American films.

They wanted fewer American films.

- So we gangsters made less money. - Because there was no audience.

Hollywood films were popular.

Without them the gangsters didn't make as much money.

As we say: 'Dinner missed the belly'

When we'd watch happy movies, like Elvis movies -

- we'd leave the cinema smiling, dancing to the music.

Our hands...

Still dancing...

Still in the mood of the film...

if girls passed, we'd whistle.

We loved it. We didn't care what people thought.

Here was the paramilitary office, where I always killed people.

I'd see the guy being interrogated...

I'd give him a cigarette. I'd still be dancing, laughing...

it was like we were killing...

...happily!

When my mom was alive -

- sometimes, when I was screaming...

...my mom would rush in and wake me up.

'Before you sleep, wash your feet!'

'Pray properly Don't just sleep.'

I know my bad dreams come from what I did...

...killing people who didn't want to die.

I forced them to die.

Why are you daydreaming, my love?

Are you so uncertain?

You're a star now!

Amazing!

This guy's a star!

Joshua, film the photos!

That's the president's father-in-law, Sarwo Edhie.

- I'll introduce them one-by-one. - That’s the president.

That's him with the president.

Ibrahim Sinik is famous all across the country!

We gangsters keep him well protected.

We wish him a long, prosperous life.

But don't forget to share your money!

Ask Joshua for money.

After all, he’s from London!

You interrogated communists in your newsroom?

He was always gathering information.

When he had the information -

- he'd say: 'Guilty!' and we'd take them away and kill them.

When you interrogated communists in your office -

what questions did you ask?

Whatever we asked, we'd change their answers -

to make them look bad.

As a newspaper man -

- my job was to make the public hate them.

And your relationship with the army?

- The army. - We had no formal relationship.

But after we captured the communist youth -

and beat them to a pulp -

- we gave them to the army but the army wouldn't take them.

They said, 'Just dump them in the river.'

Do you remember exactly what the army said?

I didn't bring the victims. I had men for that.

Why would I do such grunt work? Why would I kill people?

I didn't have to! One wink from me and they're dead!

Pancasila Youth!

How you doing, Anwar?

This is the real Anwar Congo!

Pancasila Youth, servants of the nation...

Once our sails go up -

we never turn back!

- Pancasila! - Forever!

All Pancasila Youth members are heroes.

From exterminating the communists -

- to fighting neo-communists and left-wing extremists-

- and those who want to destroy our country..

This isn't only the duty of the army and police.

We, Pancasila Youth, must take a stand.

These are threats to the nation, and we must take action.

They say Pancasila Youth is a gangster organization.

If we're gangsters-

- I'm the biggest gangster of all.

Oh, shit!

How did Pancasila Youth exterminate the communists?

We killed them all.

That's what happened.

May I hit the ball now?

We have too much democracy it's chaos.

What is this 'democracy'?

Things were better under the military dictatorship.

Better economy More security .

Gangsters are free men.

They want to enjoy, life in their style.

Relax and Rolex.

You definitely have a mole on your pussy.

Definitely.

That was great.

If I get a strike, I get a massage!

There must be many ghosts here.

They arrived perfectly healthy.

Then they were beaten up.

And died.

Sit here.