“Art inspires and reflects society”: Jeff Bridges names one of the most important films he’s ever seen
A crucial element of the cinematic medium’s unlimited potential is its ability to convey a powerful message to a wide audience. That’s exactly why Jeff Bridges was blown away by a film he labelled as one of the most important works he’s ever laid eyes on.
That’s a lofty accolade considering the sheer length and breadth of the Academy Award winner’s career, which began all the way back in 1951 when he went full-blown method and played a baby in the drama The Company She Keeps, which was released in cinemas when the second-generation actor was 13 months old.
Before his teenage years had even ended, Bridges was a veteran with five TV shows and a made-for-television movie under his belt prior to even making a permanent jump to the silver screen. That’s where he’d spend the next half a century, gaining the well-deserved reputation for being among his generation’s top talents.
With an Oscar win from seven nominations to his name and a wide-ranging variety of classics in his filmography, Bridges has developed an innate understanding of what constitutes important cinema. As it applies to those of the utmost importance, though, documentary takes pride of place over narrative fiction.
“The whole question of movies and violence, I mean, art inspires and reflects society,” he ruminated in an interview with The Telegraph. “Did you ever see a film called The Act of Killing? That’s one of the most important films I’ve ever seen. Everyone should see it. Because all these guys who killed thousands of people were inspired by American films. American films told them how to do it. Which makes you think.”
Joshua Oppenheimer’s harrowing doc tracks down and details the actions of many individuals who were complicit in the period of civil unrest in Indonesia between 1965 and 1966, where members and alleged sympathisers of the Communist Party were killed in staggering numbers. It’s estimated that well over a million people died, with declassified documents revealing that the local authorities were supported by the regimes of the United States and the United Kingdom.
Subjects Anwar Congo and Herman Koto openly admit that when they were part of the Indonesian death squads, many of the methods they used to murder their victims – whether it was strangulation, stabbing, or the way in which the bodies were disposed of – were inspired directly by their fondness for American film noir. The Act of Killing is without a doubt a shocking film, but as Bridges rightly said, it’s a hugely important one.
One of the most hauntingly poignant documentaries of the 21st century, it’s an unvarnished look at the sheer banality of evil during a time when huge swathes of the Indonesian population were being eliminated without remorse. Bridges is far from being alone in feeling greatly impacted on a foundational level by the horrors Oppenheimer laid bare.
