Unsettling Redemption: The Ethics of Intrasubjectivity in The Act of Killing

Unsettling Redemption: The Ethics of Intrasubjectivity in The Act of Killing

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The documentary The Act of Killing adopts a novel experimental approach to mass atrocity.Perpetrators here of Cold War era anti-communist purges in Indonesia are invited to narrate their acts through familiar film genres.The resulting narrative appears to fit within the ideology yale law school colors of transitional justice, with its emphasis on practices of healing, remorse and redemption.Yet the structural dimensions of violence remain unaddressed within this frame.

The moral economy of affect and empathy displaces a political analysis of enduring power imbalances and ongoing injustice.