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Film:  The Act of Killing

"The word gangster means 'free man.'"  Not in English, it doesn't.  A reminder of the power of words.  This little linguistic factoid was used as the basis for why all these guys felt justified doing terrible atrocities.  Looking it up on the internet, the Indonesian term "preman" does in fact originate from a Dutch word meaning "free man" and means working for organized crime in Indonesia.

A unique and amazing film.  Unlike any documentary I've seen.  The sheer bravado and candor of these killers is unbelievable.  In America, this would be like hanging out with Aryan Nation or MS13 and just shooting the shit.  I can't imagine a documentary filmmaker being able to gain that sort of access.  And perhaps the most terrifying aspect is the comfort these men feel within their own country because of the government complicity in their crimes.

The surrealist visuals all make a strange sort of primitive sense, although I often did not understand any of the logic.