As a product of the 80s baby boomer, I became one of those children growing up in late 80s – early 90s, during the Soeharto leadership of Republic of Indonesia.
I was born in September, yet I always dreaded September, starting from 3rd grade in Primary School.
Every night of the 30th of September, all of us 3rd grader all the way through 12th grade were required to watch the goriest movie I have ever watched as a child, namely “G 30/S PKI”.

The movie was played at midnight precisely. It has gore, violence, blood, nothing an 8 year old should be exposed to. But it was the Presidential order so every student had the Government consent to stay up at midnight, accompanied by their parents or other adults, ensuring they watch the entire movie, and then write essays about it. I recalled having difficulty staying awake so my aunt decided the solution was coffee for me and my cousin, because this essay was mandatory it was made clear that if we didn’t watch it, we’re in heaps of trouble. I didn’t want to be in trouble at school.

I remember the first time after watching the movie all the kids at school were talking about it. They discussed parts of the scene, one in particular was the one with a girl rubbing the blood of her father all over her face and screamed calling out over his lifeless body. Gory. Just gory. The conclusion that I drew from a movie that was supposedly “based on true historical events” were that PKI (Communist Party) were evil and they all deserved to die horrible deaths.

8 year old me hated communists and was immediately pro everything government and Soeharto. I started watching all his speeches and never complained year after year being told to watch that exact same movie again because I was drawn to the idea that it was a necessary reminder for all of us to never, ever, let anything like that happen to our country again.

Looking back to that, I feel like watching the movie G 30/S PKI was just an execution of textbook Brainwashing 101. In which, in my case, was a complete success.
It wasn’t until the past 5 or so years after the “truth” about what really happened on the night of September 30th 1965 was revealed. It wasn’t until I had the liberty of critical thinking and looking into the other sides of historical events aside from that one movie, that I realized, they got me. They got us all.

Motion pictures have served as a very powerful propaganda machine to brainwash millions at a time and have been used in many other countries. How do you get the truth out to the already brainwashed minds? Well, maybe, just maybe, through other movies. A documentary perhaps?

These two movies did exactly that. 40 Years of Silence and The Art of Killing reveal the gory details about what was done to people, citizens of the Republic of Indonesia, brothers and sisters of one Nation.

Wake Up. September Ends. The lies end.

-Kay Armanousa