Perpetrator Trauma as a Possible Solution for Cultural Trauma: The Case of Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014)

Abstract

The present article analyzes Joshua Oppenheimer’s documentaries The Act of Killing (2012) and The Look of Silence (2014) from the perspective of trauma. The aim of this study is to give new approaches that could allow a deeper understanding of such a complex sociopolitical situation as the one that is taking place in nowadays Indonesia. First, I will introduce the term cultural trauma to explain the situation of the victims of the 1965-66 mass killings that took place in Indonesia. Then, I will make use of the concept of the political taboo to better understand how the official narrative imposed by the government has worked, and still works, as some sort of unquestionable myth. Afterward, I will point out that these two concepts give birth to a vicious cycle from which escaping becomes highly unlikely. A possible solution I propose here comes from studying another type of trauma, that of the perpetrator, since, in an indirect way, it can lead to an improvement of cultural trauma. By approaching trauma in a non-moralistic sense, allowing the perpetrator the status of a victim, I intend to highlight the importance of empathy and understanding in the process of healing of not only perpetrator trauma, but also, and more importantly, cultural trauma.