MOVIE REVIEW: The Killing Fields (1984)

The Cambodian genocide was a harrowing event in history that I became fully aware of in my freshman year of high school. Thanks to an amazing English class, I ate, drank, and breathed the wonderful book First They Killed My Father by genocide survivor Loung Ung (she even visited my school!). Around this time, it was brought to my attention that there existed this film called The Killing Fields that dealt with two angles of the story as the genocide broke out. Only recently, did I actually get a chance to watch it.

American journalist for the New York Times Sidney Schanberg is covering the Cambodian civil conflict between the National Army and the Khmer Rouge. It is during this time, he collaborates with Cambodian journalist Dith Pran, who serves as his interpreter. In the name of journalism, they clandestinely venture into the village of Neak Leung, where they are captured by Khmer Rouge forces and subjected to witness the genocide, firsthand. When an attempt to evacuate Pran with the help of British forces fails, Schanberg returns alone, remorsefully recounting his experiences, while Pran stays behind, and makes an effort to survive the regime. But little does Pran know the effort that Schanberg is making to try and track him down.

Killing Fields is excellent in that it doesn't require star power or excellent filmmaking techniques to effectively convey it's message. The affecting story is driven mostly through the images of disturbing brutality and violence that make the film seem almost documentary-like at times. Is there a down side to any of this? Well, it can be a little slow at times, but not that it hinders the pace of the story at any point in time. This authenticity is only made more tangible with the casting of genocide survivor Dr. Haing S. Ngor as Pran. Ngor's own story is equally as harrowing as Pran's, and although he won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, Ngor met a tragic end; murdered in his L.A. apartment by Asian gang members. The film does end with a sliver of hope for the ravaged Cambodians, and even though John Lennon's "Imagine" has become somewhat of a cliche in anti-war films, it's used here in wonderfully poignant and ironic effect.

9/10

Peace,
- Jon