The perpetrators in TAOK present themselves as if they are not at fault. S21 has a more neutral approach.

TAOK reenactment is more sensationalized. S21 is very matter-of-fact, detached from the past. 

S21 has no background music and has little archival footage.

TAOK focuses the story more on Anwar, while S21 shows different guards doing their duties in various parts of the camp.

Anwar shows a story development. He presents himself to show remorse throughout the film. S21 shows a factual representation of what happened.

S21: Anwar Congo/Prison Workers

Similarities

• Wants to control the country (intent)

• Self-justification on the acts and orders given to kill and rid of the enemies (intent)

Similarities

• both films painted the victims under extreme suppression during the time these acts were happening

• portrayed their countries to move on from the genocide without proper apology or recognition of what the victims went through

• victims wanted their stories to be recognised as something real and known to the public

• TAOK have a limited/ close to no victim perspectives compared to S21 where it was the victim directing the documentary

• S21 victims were speaking up to their perpetrators compared to TAOK where we can still see they do not speak up about it

Difference:

TAOK - Communism vs Capitalism

S21 - Communist kills bourgeois

• Both show personal accounts from perpetrators

Differences:

• S21 is more serious while the act of killing includes less serious scenes

• The act of killing shows the perpetrators reliving their memories while s21 is only based on the perpetrators' memories

• The act of killing is more erratic with less routine from the perpetrators while the perpetrators in s21 has more routine

However, S21 potrays a more realistic tone while The Act of Killing shows the injustices through spectacle and fantastical elements. S21 invites the viewer to sympathize more with the victims and perpretators, while The Act of Killing leads you to villainify the killers due to their boasting.

S21: Anwar Congo/Prison Workers

Differences

• AOK - the perpetrators were celebrated and still share power with the Indonesian government, they are still feared by the locals.

• S21 - the leaders of the perpetrators received their punishments and there are several who try to avoid conversations about their past acts.

Similarities:

1. Both films aim to tap into the perpetrator's perspective to portray and recreate a prosthetic memory for their audience. It allows the audience to have a better idea through the lens of these killers.

Differences:

1. Cinema to uncover repressed memory.

   • In TAOK, the killers had to reenact their crimes through the process of creating a film. Through this process, it helped to reveal psychological mechanisms of glorification deeply repressed conflicts. By relieving this memory, and being placed into different roles, it enabled these perpetrators to access repressed memories and psychological conflicts and emotions.

   • In Killing Machine, S21 also uses the concept of reenactments to reconstruct routines and their daily behaviors in the prison setting. It enables them to trigger past memories and potentially emotional reckoning. However, because of the lack of the secondary concept of having the perpetrators design and create their own film, it had a different outcome versus TAOK.

• The perpetrators from both films did not face harsh punishment

Differences:

• The perpetrators in the act of killing has to self question if they did wrong (after thought) while the perpetrators in the s21 know that they did wrong and are questioning if they have been wronged by the authorities

Difference:

TAOK - One sided perspective

S21 - Two sided

Differences:
Both films adopt distinct cinematic styles in recreating memories of violence. In TAOK, director Joshua uses surreal imagery, stylised genre scenes, and metaphorical reenactments to visualize the psychological landscape of the perpetrators. These sequences reflect how the killers perceive themselves, often as heroes, and reveal the fantasies, justifications, and moral dissonance in their minds.

In contrast, S21 takes a more direct and observational approach. Former prison guards reenact their routines in a realistic setting, focusing on the physical and procedural aspects of their roles. While emotionally powerful, this method offers less access to the inner psychological world of the perpetrators, instead placing emphasis on the factual and structural machinery of the genocide.

TAOK tends to be more one sided, aiming at glorifying and twisting the accounts for entertainment.