Documentaries are sometimes an opportunity to examine actions in our past that are reprehensible, often times as a means to remind people of the horrors of war and hate. Night and Fog (1956) is a French film that examines Nazi concentration camps during World War II. It switches between archival and contemporary footage to fully capture the heavy, graphic subject matter of death. The Act of Killing (2012) addresses the mass killings of 1965-1966 in Indonesia through following the lives of several of the perpetrators of the genocide.
Night and Fog is presented in the Expository film mode. It presents bits of history into a narrative, trying to help the view imagine what the life of a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp would have been like. We have a voice accompanying us all the way through. The images in Night and Fog primarily exist as a supplement to the word being spoken by the narrator. An example is when the narrator explains how victims in gas chambers would claw at the ceiling trying anything to get out. The image there is just a long shot of the ceiling, showing evidence to support the spoken word. The image wouldn’t mean nearly as much without the accompaniment of the voice.
On the other hand, The Act of Killing is presented in a complex combination of the Observational and Participatory modes of documentary. Joshua Oppenheimer goes through the film primarily sticking in the observational mode, following Anwar Congo as he recounts his experience living as a government-absolved mass murderer.
One of the main differences in Night and Fog and The Act of Killing is the question. Night and Fog presents the facts of the diverse activities and atrocities perpetrated in Nazi concentration camps but chooses to avoid focusing on the Nazi’s themselves, instead investigating the experiences of the prisoners. Alain Resnais, the director, ends the film with a question. The narrator asks, “Who is responsible?” This comes after showing footage of different Nazis involved with the concentration camps testifying that they are not responsible. It’s an open ended question at the end of the film, asking the audience to consider who takes the responsibility in impossible to grasp atrocities.
Night and Fog
On the other hand, The Act of Killing doesn’t leave the question of who the responsible parties are to the audience. Throughout the film, Oppenheimer primarily stays quiet, observing Anwar and other “killers” involved in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966. They, compared to the Nazi officials in Night and Fog, take credit for their actions and celebrate how many people died at their hands. It’s only through following them in their efforts to make a movie about their perceived accomplishments that Anwar specifically comes to question whether his actions were right or not. In one of the final scenes, Anwar expresses that he finally understood what his victims felt, to which Oppenheimer, from behind the camera, explains that his victims felt worse because they knew they would die. In this participatory moment, Oppenheimer personally becomes involved, not leaving the question of who’s responsible up to the audience. It becomes clear between this scene and the following one where Anwar retches on the rooftop where he performed his killings that he feels responsible.
The Act of Killing
Both films highlight the depravity of war and genocide. They choose to do so in different ways. Night and Fog addresses the audience directly, showing what it was like, while the Act of Killing addresses the murderers and their changing perspectives on their actions.
