Powerful trailer for Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary 'The Act of Killing'

Hailed as a remarkable achievement in documentary filmmaking, enough to warrant Werner Herzog and Errol Morris putting their good names on it, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing not only explores the actions of violent men, it could completely change the way we look at movie violence. It deals with men like Anwar Congo, who in 1965 Indonesia went from being a petty crook to the leader of a death squad, responsible for the deaths of upwards of  1 million people in the wake of a failed political coup. All these years later, Congo and his men are considered heroes and celebrities rather than war criminals, and Oppenheimer's film boldly challenges them to confront their pasts.

In the film's newly-released trailer, we see the mechanism by which Oppenheimer plans to study these genocidal figures. Perhaps due to their previous love of American cinema, they agree to recreate their brutal killings in the form of their favorite genres of film. Some choose musicals, some select what appear to be comedies and horrors, but they are all deeply disturbing to watch. Most chilling of all is the reaction by Congo, who doesn't seem to completely grasp the damage he has caused until it's way too late. How much of this will be a personal journey of redemption for him is unclear, but I can't wait to find out.

The Act of Killing opens on July 19th.