Psychology in Film

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Theatrical poster for The Act of Killing
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The Act of Killing

Anwar and other former death-squad leaders in Indonesia are invited to stage scenes about killings from 1965 using favorite movie genres. Their performances place personal accounts alongside deliberate reconstruction, raising questions about recollection, self-presentation and the documentary’s method.

2012. Documentary feature · 117 min. Chronology period: 2000–2014.

DocumentaryRelease or archive checkedSocial influenceMemory

Directed or created by
Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn, Anonymous
Country and language
Denmark, Norway, United Kingdom · Indonesian
Content notes
Mass political violence Death squad participation Staged reenactment of killings

Why this work matters for psychology

The premise raises hard questions about participation, memory, and self-justification in documentary filmmaking, and it asks students to distinguish testimony from evidence.

Psychological connections

Screen stories illustrate how psychological processes look and feel in narrative form; they are not empirical proof or clinical case studies.

  • Reenactment as participation

    Ask how being invited to restage past actions might shape the way participants narrate their own history.

    Topic: Social influence, conformity and intergroup biasBasis: Grounded in both supplied synopses describing staged reenactments; treated as an open question about the film's method, not a validated psychological finding.

  • Narrative and recollection

    Consider how film genres might frame recollection, and why a reenactment cannot be taken as a straightforward record of events.

    Topic: Memory and amnesiaBasis: Based on the Final Cut for Real synopsis of genre-styled scenes; documentary testimony and editing are not experimental evidence.

Portrayal and accuracy limitations

  • Documentary classification does not establish the truth of every depicted account; testimony and staged reenactment require separate scrutiny.
  • The production team includes a credited Anonymous co-director, so authorship is partly obscured in the inspected credit list.

Questions to watch for

  1. 1. What might participants reveal or conceal when asked to dramatize their own past actions?
  2. 2. How does staging a scene differ from recounting an event, and why does that distinction matter here?

In the Psy101 course

Use the linked textbook concepts as questions for interpreting the premise, rather than as evidence validating its portrayal.

Textbook links show where these concepts sit in an introductory course; they do not study this screen work. See the full topics and course map.

Companion readings and work source

Readings labeled as conceptual companions or contextual references study the psychological topic rather than this screen work.

  1. [1]
    Danish Film Institute (Det Danske Filminstitut). (n.d.). The act of killing | Danish film institute. https://www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/act-killingChecked 2026-10-23.Release or archive checkedSelected official synopsis and catalog details inspected; full work not viewed.
  2. [2]
    Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/12-3-attitudes-and-persuasion(OpenStax course textbook · Selected passages checked · Checked 2026-10-23).Conceptual Companion (Does Not Study This Work)Conceptual companion: does not study this work. It investigates the underlying psychological construct or textbook topic.Attitudes and cognitive dissonance at excerpt scope; conceptual framing, not verification of any account.Note: Selected textbook material inspected at the stated access scope. Conceptual companion; it does not study or validate this screen work.
  3. [3]
    Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/12-4-conformity-compliance-and-obedience(OpenStax course textbook · Selected passages checked · Checked 2026-10-23).Conceptual Companion (Does Not Study This Work)Conceptual companion: does not study this work. It investigates the underlying psychological construct or textbook topic.Conformity and obedience at excerpt scope; does not validate historical claims.Note: Selected textbook material inspected at the stated access scope. Conceptual companion; it does not study or validate this screen work.
  4. [4]
    Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/12-5-prejudice-and-discrimination(OpenStax course textbook · Full-text passages checked · Checked 2026-10-23).Conceptual Companion (Does Not Study This Work)Conceptual companion: does not study this work. It investigates the underlying psychological construct or textbook topic.Prejudice and discrimination at full-text scope; conceptual companion only.Note: Selected textbook material inspected at the stated access scope. Conceptual companion; it does not study or validate this screen work.