Page - 35 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

Trauma and Conformity | 35www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 35–46 Hessel J. Zondag Trauma and Conformity Psychology in The Act Of Killing and Das radikal Böse ABSTRACT This article discusses the psychological aspects of two documentaries about violence: The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, GB/DK/NO 2012) and Das radikal Böse (The Radical Evil, Stefan Ruzowitzky, DE/AT 2013), specifically the concepts of trauma and conformity. Both perspectives are revealing and provide insight and structure. But question marks hang over both concepts because they hide important elements of the violence described in the documentaries. In the case of The Act of Killing the dif- ference between perpetrators and victims should not be neglected; in the case of Das radikal Böse conformity should be recognised as not simply a moral failing. KEYWORDS Trauma, conformity, violence BIOGRAPHY Hessel J. Zondag studied cultural psychology in Nijmegen and was lecturer and re- searcher at the University of Tilburg and the Radboud University Nijmegen. His re- search and publications deal with the psychological consequences of individualisation processes, the meaning of religion for personal well-being, and religion and psychol- ogy in the visual arts, literature and film. The documentaries The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, DK/NO/GB 2012) and Das radikal Böse (The Radical Evil, Stefan Ruzowitzky DE/AT 2013) are about mass killing, a form of violence in which well-armed and efficiently or- ganised perpetrators kill helpless victims on a large scale.1 Frequently, perpe- trators and victims confront each other directly during such slaughter, which might take place in the context of war, civil war, revolution or a coup d’état. The Act of Killing is about the mass killings that occurred in 1965 and 1966 in Indonesia after the alleged coup by the Partai Komunis Indonesia (Communist 1 De Swaan 2014. DOI: 10.25364/05.4:2018.1.3