History Film / TheActOfKilling

* AcceptableTargets: [[invoked]] The killers consider communists to be this.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: While they don't describe themselves as such, the Pancasila Youth are fascists in all but name. Beyond being boorish and violent extremists, they're bigoted towards [[StayInTheKitchen women]] and ethnic minorities like the Chinese Indonesians. It's doubly ironic that they're named after Sukarno's "Pancasila" philosophy, given that he was a left-wing nationalist and a steadfast ally of the communists.

** Koto himself admits to running for an election to the local legislature specifically so that he can get on the Building Commission and extort whole neighborhoods out of thousands of dollars per neighborhood. He doesn't win - but more because he didn't have enough money with which to bribe voters, especially in contrast to the wildly popular Golkar party, which enjoys the backing of the Pancasila Youth and can pay thousands just to be part of the crowd at rallies.
---> '''Herman:''' Nowadays, nobody believes in what they're campaigning for. We've all become like soap opera actors. Our souls have become like soap opera actors.

* CriticalResearchFailure: In-universe (which is our universe, but still). Adi seems to think that psychiatrists prescribe people "nerve vitamins". But hey, at least he's correct in recommending that Anwar go see a psychiatrist to help dispel his regular nightmares.

Today, Anwar is revered as a founding father of a right-wing paramilitary organization that grew out of the death squads. The organization is so powerful that its leaders include government ministers, and they are happy to boast about everything from corruption and election rigging to acts of genocide.

** Koto himself admits to running for an election specifically so that he can get on the local Building Commission and extort whole neighborhoods out of thousands of dollars per neighborhood.

* CriticalResearchFailure: In-universe, Adi seems to think that psychiatrists prescribe people "nerve vitamins".

* DemocracyIsBad: Pancasila commander Yapto opines about this when Joshua interviews him.

* DroneOfDread: The only non-diegetic music in the film is a faint, eerie drone that plays over some of the more intense and surreal sequences.

* IronicEcho: The very end of the film has Anwar return to a rooftop seen near the beginning. The first time, he happily described the method by which he executed prisoners in that very spot. The second time, he breaks down and starts gagging.

* PetTheDog: Anwar is seen scolding his grandsons for injuring a duckling and instructing them how to take care of it at one point.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The Pancasila members are all quite racist and sexist, particularly against Chinese people. Safit specifically goes out of his way to intimidate and extort Chinese shopkeepers because he knows they're more vulnerable, and Anwar reminisces on how he and his comrades would shake down Chinese people for all their money and kill them if they refused to pay up. They also make frequent misogynistic comments and even fantasize about raping teenage girls. Safit and Ibrahim even make fun of Anwar for looking African at one point.

* BlackShirt: The Pancasila Youth militia movement, the organization behind most of the killings. They were formed in 1959 and hold significant power to this day, numbering 3 to 9 million strong.

** According to Herman, ''all of them''. Many government higher-ups are associated with the paramilitary group Pancasila Youth, and Indonesia's vice president openly praises gangsters at one of their rallies.

* CriticalResearchFailure: Adi seems to think that psychiatrists prescribe people "nerve vitamins".
* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: The attitude of the gangsters is summed up as "Relax and Rolex."

* StateSec: The Pemuda Pancasila paramilitary group is one part this, one part organized crime, and one part
RightWingMilitiaFanatic. In fact, right-wing paramilitary groups (of both secular nationalist and religious varieties) became the military's main instrument of terror during the killings, and many of them retain high-level political and military ties well after the Reformation. Their lingering presence across Indonesia was one of the reasons for the clandestine nature of the movie's production process.

* BadDreams: Anwar has recurring nightmares about the killings he committed.

* TheSociopath: Adi is fully aware that what he did was pure evil, he just doesn't care.
* StateSec: The Pemuda Pancasila paramilitary group is one part this, one part organized crime, and one part RightWingMilitiaFanatic. In fact, right-wing paramilitary groups (of both secular nationalist and religious varieties) became the military's main instrument of terror during the killings, and many of them retain high-level political and military ties well after the Reformation. Their lingering presence across Indonesia was one of the reasons for the clandestine nature of the movie's production process.

* AffablyEvil: If you didn't know what he did, you'd think of Anwar as a CoolOldGuy with some eccentric habits. Critics compared this to Hannah Arendt's concept of the Banality of Evil.

* CorruptPolitician: According to Herman, ''all of them''. Many government higher-ups are associated with the paramilitary group Pancasila Youth, and Indonesia's vice president openly praises gangsters at one of their rallies.

* EvilIsPetty: Even among the other genocidaires, Ibrahim Sinik comes across as intensely petty and vain, slandering the other death squad members as soon as they're out of earshot and attempting to claim credit for all the killings himself.

* DissonantSerenity: Anwar fondly recalls executing some of his victims by placing a table leg over their throat and then having all his men sit on top of the table, joyously singing showtunes as their weight forces the table leg down and impales the victim through the threat.

* BlackShirts: The Pancasila Youth militia movement, the organization behind most of the killings. They were formed in 1959 and hold significant power to this day, numbering 3 to 9 million strong.