The Look of Silence (2015)
94%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
48 wins & 45 nominations total
The Look of Silence delivers a less shocking — yet just as terribly compelling — companion piece to Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing.
If you’re looking for a documentary that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, The Look of Silence is definitely not it. But if you want to be moved, disturbed, and left with a sense of awe at the power of cinema, then this is the film for you. Joshua Oppenheimer’s follow-up to The Act of Killing is a gut-wrenching exploration of the aftermath of the Indonesian genocide, and it’s not for the faint of heart. But if you can handle it, you’ll be rewarded with a film that’s both devastating and beautiful, and that will stay with you long after the credits roll.
Production Company(ies)
Anonymous Britdoc Foundation Final Cut for Real
Distributor
Drafthouse Films
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Indonesia
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG – 13 for thematic material involving disturbing graphic descriptions of atrocities and inhumanity
Year of Release
2015
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:NA
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Runtime:1h 39m
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Language(s):Indonesian
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Country of origin:Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Norway
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jul 17, 2015 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 12, 2016
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
The Look of Silence, documentary, Indonesian, Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, André Singer, PG-13, optician, Indonesian genocide, brother, confrontation, critic reviews, Lenika Cruz, Jake Wilson, David Stratton, Emily St James, Tom Long, Bill Goodykoontz, Angus Batey, David Bax, Alistair Lawrence, Brent McKnight, Brian D Johnson, Ryan Syrek, audience reviews, Anthony L, Carlos M, John B, box office, budget, reviewed by, produced by, directed by, starring
Worldwide gross: $157,857
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $197,048
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,935
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 21,488
US/Canada gross: $109,089
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $136,172
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,613
US/Canada opening weekend: $6,616
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $8,259
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,740
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Joshua Oppenheimer – Director
Signe Byrge Sørensen – Producer
Werner Herzog – Executive Producer
Errol Morris – Executive Producer
André Singer – Executive Producer
Director(s)
Joshua Oppenheimer
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Signe Byrge Sørensen
Film Festivals
Berlin, South by Southwest, Venice, Telluride, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
48 wins & 45 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (139) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (134) | Rotten (5)
Every scene weighs on the audience. But Oppenheimer and Adi manage to locate a lightness as well that lessens the burden.
January 21, 2016
Lenika Cruz
The Atlantic
TOP CRITIC
Oppenheimer’s follow-up, The Look of Silence, is more lucid but less interesting.
December 1, 2015 | Rating: 2.5/5
Jake Wilson
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
oshua Oppenheimer has followed his 2012 documentary, The Act of Killing, with another, even more powerful film, The Look of Silence.
December 1, 2015 | Rating: 3.5/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
If Killing was a cleverer film and perhaps a more “informative” one (if you want to learn about the Indonesian killings, at least), then Silence is a more gut-wrenching one.
October 20, 2015 | Rating: 5/5
Emily St. James
Vox
TOP CRITIC
“The Look of Silence” is so disturbing because so few people in it seem disturbed.
August 28, 2015 | Rating: A
Tom Long
Detroit News
TOP CRITIC
A reminder that the architects of a massive tragedy remain present and unrepentant, the personification of the evil men do and a warning that it could happen again.
August 27, 2015 | Rating: 4.5/5
Bill Goodykoontz
Arizona Republic
TOP CRITIC
Exceptional.
May 18, 2021
Angus Batey
NME
If The Act of Killing was about the identity of a nation who perpetrated a genocide, The Look of Silence is about the other identity, the one that genocide was designed to erase.
January 14, 2021
David Bax
Battleship Pretension
Indonesian genocide docu sequel has graphic descriptions.
December 2, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Alistair Lawrence
Common Sense Media
Moving and devastating, The Look of Silence is a true illustration of the power of movies; you walk out of the theater and never look at the world in quite the same way ever again.
July 5, 2020 | Rating: A+
Brent McKnight
The Last Thing I See
Joshua Oppenheimer’s companion piece to The Act of Killing, his astonishing portrait of Indonesia’s genocide, is a rare cinematic feat: a personal film that frames a horrific inquiry with a transcendent beauty.
August 8, 2019
Brian D. Johnson
Maclean’s Magazine
A documentary duo unlike any other, The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence are filmmaking as activism and cinema as history.
July 30, 2019 | Rating: A+
Ryan Syrek
The Reader (Omaha, NE)…
Plot
An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the “Communist” purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic facts of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers’ family members about what happened in the past – much to Adi’s disappointment.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Werner Herzog serves as an executive producer for The Look of Silence.
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