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"The Look of Silence" centers on one of the worst massacres
since World War Two, when at least 500,000 people died in
violence that raged after then-general Suharto and the military
took power following an abortive coup in 1965. A million or more
people were jailed, suspected of being communists.
Up for best documentary at Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony, the
film has forced many to confront one of the darkest periods in
Indonesia's history and remains banned from commercial cinemas.
"Successive governments have failed to address the events of
1965 as a lesson that needs to be learned by the nation," said
Muhammad Nurkhoiron of the national commission on human rights.
"There needs to at least be official recognition but that hasn't
happened. But we feel happy this film has been nominated so the
world can see those events are finally being questioned."
Government officials did not respond to repeated requests for
comment on the film.
Despite the ban, "The Look of Silence", which has an Indonesian
co-producer, is available online and had hundreds of private
screenings across Indonesia.
This year's nomination will be the second for director Joshua
Oppenheimer, whose similarly-themed "The Act of Killing" lost
out in the best documentary category in 2013.
While the first film unveiled some of 1965's unrepentant killers
who still remain free, "The Look of Silence" tells the same tale
through the eyes of a victim's family.
In the film Adi Rukun comes face to face with the alleged
torturers and killers of his three siblings.
"It was the hardest thing I've done in my life," Rukun said in a
telephone interview. "What I wanted was to hear a confession,
but I saw them feel no remorse."
The films go beyond tracking the cathartic journeys of those
involved to show how many continue to turn a blind eye to past
crimes.
"I hope the films will energize the movement in Indonesia
against impunity and against a system based on fear and
intimidation," Oppenheimer told Reuters by telephone.
Indonesia began a transition to democracy in 1998 after more
than three decades of authoritarian rule.
The 2014 election of Joko Widodo as president, the first leader
to come from outside the country's political and military
establishment, offered hope to human rights activists that past
violations would finally be addressed.
That has not happened, and last year Indonesia censored several
events to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 killings.
"The hope is small," said Nurkhoiron. "But these films are a
step to reconciliation with the past."
(Editing by John Chalmers and Clarence Fernandez)
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