This is the final week for the 2015 True Life Fund benefiting Adi Rukun of The Look of Silence. Yesterday morning we announced our goal of raising a total of $35,000 to help Adi open a brick-and-mortar optometry shop in his new community. As of this morning we raised an additional $2,425, bringing the total raised to $33,425! We’re so close, please consider donating here and helping us cross the finish line!
Today we wanted to take a brief look at the impact the film is having in Indonesia. Whereas The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer’s first film investigating the mass killing of 1965-66, was initially released in secret, The Look of Silence made its Indonesian premiere on November 10, 2014 in Indonesia’s largest theater, an event sponsored National Human Rights Commission and the Jakarta Arts Council, both government agencies. Adi appeared unannounced following the screening and received a 10-minute standing ovation.
The film expanded across Indonesia on December 10, 2014, International Human Rights Day. In the months since, the film has played in hundreds of public screenings for tens of thousands of Indonesians. The police and army responded by organizing thugs to threaten screenings, and then used these threats as a pretext for cancellation. While these tactics have succeeded in preventing a small fraction of the screenings from taking place, they have drawn widespread condemnation in the Indonesian press. Editorials, like this one from the Jakarta Globe, have bluntly demanded a national conversation on the killings. Just last month, a group of students at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University barricaded themselves into their school when an angry mob tried and failed to prevent a screening of the film.
All of this has taken place early in the tenure of Joko Widodo, commonly referred to as “Jokowi,” Indonesia’s first president who doesn’t come directly from the oligarchy. Jokowi has in some situations spoken publicly on the need to acknowledge the human rights violations committed by the military. Nevertheless, his supporters include army generals still with close ties to killers and their cronies. Moreover, Jokowi selected for his running mate Jusuf Kalla, the vice president who gives a chilling speech at the paramilitary rally in The Act of Killing on the need for “gangsters” in Indonesian politics.
Indonesia is clearly at an important crossroads. While the future remains uncertain, there are plenty of reasons for cautious optimism and it is clear that the silence surrounding the killings has now been broken for good. This is all thanks to the Adi Rukun’s remarkable acts of bravery in risking his life confronting the men who killed his brother. Please join us in saying thank you.
