Soul-blindness, Trauma, and Reenactment: A Cavellian Reading of The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence

This article aims to demonstrate how concepts from Stanley Cavell’s ethical and epistemological reflections can enhance discussions within trauma and reenactment studies by providing a valuable philosophical framework. A case study is presented through two documentaries by Joshua Oppenheimer, which focus on the Indonesian mass killings of 1955-1966. The article argues that, when considered in relation to film theory issues such as realism, spectatorship, and performance, the unique first-person reenactments in these documentaries can be effectively analyzed using Cavell’s Wittgenstein-inspired concepts of aspect-seeing, soul-blindness, and imagination.