The Killing Fields | Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor | To this day one of the greatest movies...

The Killing Fields | Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor | Historical Tear Jerker

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The Killing Fields

	The Killing Fields Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor Warner Home Video, 2001 average customer review:based on 96 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

To this day one of the greatest movies related to war ever made

The insanity of Pol Pot and his regime, Hell on Earth!

I just watched "The Killing Fields" after almost two decades after I first saw it in the eighties and I cannot believe how intense and gripping this movie is to this very day. Of all the genocides in human history this one that took place in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 just after the Vietnam War is probably the worst in human history. This is not only because of the number of people who were killed or because of the torture and methods of extermination of the poor victims but because the communist Khmer Rouge, the very guys who were supposed to run the government were doing it to their own people. This was not some enemy indulging in hate crime. Coinciding with the US pullout of Vietnam, as the foreigners also leave, Cambodia celebrates happily welcoming their new military government but the initial revelry soon turns to a life threatening situation as the Khmer Rouge gradually start mobilizing their plans. The mass evacuation of all the people in the major cities to the fields begin. No one is spared, including bed ridden patients in hospitals. Simultaneously the killings begin. According to their screwed-up principles all educated people (even all those who were wearing spectacles were considered educated) foreigners, anyone related to the former government, the sick, the unhealthy were all to be exterminated and what follows is Cambodia's period of hell. Without any value for human life Cambodian citizens are butchered like animals. People are killed anywhere and everywhere without respite and their corpses abandoned without proper burial or funeral. Khmer Rouge's motto when it comes to human life - "if they survive no gain; if they die no loss". I also read from reports on sites on the web that after years of war the Khmer Rouge had totally lost the value of human life.

In all other cases of genocide there was hatred and enmity for one regime for another. But in the case of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge killed their very own people and two million of them with their stupid and bizarre ideals that got them nowhere. Many foreigners were also killed and these include Vietnamese, Pakistani's, Muslims, Christians and Buddhists. In fact The Khmer Rouge were just waiting to find the most silly reason to dispose somebody or anybody. The film also reminds the world what will happen to people and governments if power is given to those madmen who have no idea about how to use it. These Caligulas eventually end up abusing the system with gross misuse of power. Only the murders in Sierra Leonne and the stories of child soldiers can come close to the crimes that happened in Cambodia but then again there is no comparision. Dith Pran whose story is told in this movie continues his crusade to this very day of educating people in Cambodia and around the world of what went on in his country in those years of torture, pain, suffering and death so that such an incident never takes place again. There are several sites online describing the genocide.

The Khmer Rouge believed that only labour and an agrarian society could revive Cambodia's economy and so "everyone" was made to work in the fields. They had a target of producing a targeted quantity of rice per acre and only very few of the groups could achieve that target. Every worker was exhausted to starvation on poorly fed meals causing widespread disease and malnutrition resulting in further deaths. Hungry people scavenged on whatever that was edible and because only cultivated crops were to be consumed other plantations and crops were either removed or destroyed. In their places mines were planted everywhere. Pol Pot called them "the prefect soldiers" Millions of them were planted, almost one for every citizen of the country. The Khmer Rouge were also against wasting bullets and victims were clubbed or bludgeoned, killed with sharp bamboo sticks or had their throats slit and left to die.

The Movie tries best to cover all aspects of this regime's insane thinking. But here's more. I remember watching Roland Joffe (director of this movie) explain this in a documentary other things that were taking place during the regime though they weren't shown in the movie. One of the worst crimes that was committed by the regime was in the Tuol Sleng school (now converted into a war museum) that was converted into a prison (nicknamed the notorious S12) through which 14,000 or so people went in an only a handful survived. The rest were tortured to the limits of unimaginable and unbearable pain and agony and subsequently murdered in the nearby Choeung Euk, before the forced and framed confessions were extracted out of them. The paintings of Vann Nath one of the few survivors (who survived because of his painting skill) tell it all. Most of the grizzly images he painted are graphic and certainly not for the faint of heart.

The other aspect of the movie is the well dramatized indoctrination of the masses, particularly the children. Children were brain washed because it was easy to get a new generation with the ideals of party ingrained in them than teach or convert an older generation Children were allowed to judge a prisoner's or a victim's fate, spy on people, even their own parents and for all which they were praised and given better positions. It is not sure if the children were doing it out of fear or survival. The Khmer rouge did not believe in and strongly discouraged parent-child family set-up. As converts to the regime peasants were involved in torture and killings too. Many of these guards and soldiers were barely out of their teens. Of the several disturbing scenes in one very moving scene a volunteer in one of the indoctrination classes raises her hands to be forgiven. What was on her mind? Escape this dreadful life by getting killed or maybe she thought she would be forgiven and allowed to live. Little does she know that she and many others who exposed themselves as educated were going to their graves the very same evening.

Finally when the Khmer Rouge were ousted, they left behind just a handful of doctors and engineers for the entire nation. Even the Vietnamese who finally liberated Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge and who had seen enough in the war in their own country were appalled by what the fleeing Khmer Rouge forces had left behind.

There are tons of info on the genocide on Wikipedia and elsewhere on the web. Dith Pran has his own site. Dr. Haing S Ngor who played Dith Pran and who was a Cambodian Genocide survivor himself won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1985. Unfortunately he lost his wife and family in the Genocide. The pain and fear is very much there on his face and playing a Cambodian would have been second nature. Unfortunately he was killed in Los Angeles in the late nineties during a burglary. I'll never forget his Oscar award acceptance speech where he tearfully dedicated the award to the millions who had died and to his homeland, Cambodia. Another Cambodian in the U.S who became popular by writing about her life during the Khmer Rouge times is Loung Ung. The movie also won Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Besides the Oscars the movie won several awards world wide. Shot in Thailand the movie has some very amazing made sets. Particularly note the war torn streets through which Haing and friends make their escape. You also cannot help enjoying the village side of these countries despite the crimes that were going on in them.

The only annoying thing was the pop music of Mike Oldfield at certain times of the movie but John Lennon's "Imagine" played at the befitting moment was a lovely touch by Roland Joffe and will certainly move you. "Band on the run" by P.McCartney and the Wings is also heard earlier in the movie.

During the nineties I remember reading and even watching on TV, how Pol Pot (I am quite sure it was him) on one occasion was literally man handled by the people of Cambodia when he tried to enter Cambodia via the main airport. Almost everyone was trying to get his share of the bashing. He was lucky to have got away alive. He and many of the war criminals got away with their crimes never to be tried. Some surrendered and some were captured but most of them are either at large or escaped persecution or punishment.

Released 6 years after the ousting of the regime this is the closest that you can get to the horror and crime that took place in Cambodia's worst period in history.

Very highly recommended, this is a must-see!

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Historical Tear Jerker

Its all true. The history of how a group of complete psychos inspired by some bizarre form of nutty totalitarian communism came down from the hills in Cambodia, and murdered and tortured half of its population. If you wonder why its important to fight for human rights and democracy in places you can't pronounce, see this movie. If you think you have a lousy job or life, see this movie. If you want to understand what real courage is all about, see this movie. See this movie and find out what happens when America abandons countries to fend for themselves because it doesn't have the courage to 'stay the course'. America did it in Afghanistan after the Soviets pulled out, we did it in Cambodia and Vietnam and in Lebanon. We did it in North Korea. We did it to the Kurds in Iraq. We did it in Somalia. We will probably do it again very soon. The results are predictable, no?

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A Great Film

It all started with John Malkovich. Me seeing the movie I mean, not the film itself. I was scanning through Malkovich's filmography and saw this film in their. I had heard of the film, but had no idea what it was about but I checked it out. Malkovich is close to top billing, but his role is really small...Having said that, this was an amazing film. Truly a work of art. The movie stars Sam Waterston ('Serial Mom') playing Sydney Schanberg, a New York Times columnist who heads to Cambodia on the brink of war. Bombs have been dropped, labor camps have been set up and Schanberg wants to write about all of it. When he gets there he meets Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor, who won an Oscar for the role), who becomes his friend and interpreter. Malkovich plays Schanberg's photographer Al Rockoff; His role is brief, but he leaves his mark. After Schanberg's war entraps himself and his fellow journalists, Pran saves him from being executed but is himself placed in a labor camp. The script is based on a New York Times article by Schanberg called The Death and Life of Dith Pran. When I saw that, I figured this would be a rather depressing story. Truth is, the film is quite uplifting. The choice to use John Lennon's "Imagine" for the final scene was perfect. Anyway, back to the synopsis...Schanberg is back in New York, while Pran slaves at the labor camp. Schanberg has no idea whether Pran is alive or dead, but doesn't give up on the idea of one day reuniting with his friend. Most films that take place in this setting, I'm not a big fan of. I'm not saying I didn't like these films, but movies like The Constant Gardener and Beyond Borders are a bit like this movie. Although, for the record, this film is way better. Having said those last two things I was surprised that I liked this film. Whether you're a fan of these kinds of movies or not, you need to see this. It's an important and uplifting movie, that no one should not see.

GRADE: A

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Great movie, could have done without the political revisionism

This movie is based on the fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodia to the Vietnamese trained Communist Khmer Rouge. It is the accounts of NY Times reporter Sydney Schanberg and his aide Dith Pran that are shown here masterfully

The Khmer Rouge is one of the worst regimes in the 20th century and that is saying a lot. They moved the Cambodian people from the cities and urban areas into the rural areas and forced them into agricultural production. Those that did not die at the hands of the Khmer Rouge died from diseases and malnutrition that city life had left them ill prepared for.

My only complaint about this movie and the reason I am docking it 1 star is for the political views espoused by Sydney Schanberg. America may be held accountable for many things, certainly Lyndon Johnson's personally orchestrated war (for which both he and Robert McNamara should have been tried for war crimes) in Vietnam is among them.

To blame America for the Khmer massacres is insane. The Khmer, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Soviet Governments are the villains here and take 99.9% of the blame for the atrocities committed. Yes America was involved in covert bombing campaigns in Cambodia but it did nothing to precipitate the events depicted in the Killing Fields and possibly held them off for the briefest of times. This kind of revisionist history is straight out of the lexicon of Noam Chomsky, who first denied the events occurred and then tried to place the blame on anyone else but his "idealized" government system of communism.

America and western countries do share the blame though of not educating their people enough about these events. It is a chapter of history that we would like to put behind us which makes it all the more important that we never forget it happened and that brutal regimes like the Khmer Rouge exist and will subject their own people to the worst atrocities.

As for the using of the song "Imagine" I am not sure that John Lennon would have liked the irony in the lyrics. The communist Khmer Rouge tried to strip the normally religious Khmer people from their faith. As religious faith tends to get in the way of Communism. "A brotherhood of man" Pol Pot referred to himself as "Brother Number One" and also operated a "Big Brother" type regime. "No need for greed or hunger" strip them of their possessions and make everyone engage in food production and see how quickly everyone starves to death. "No hell below us" why have it below them when the Khmer's can endure living hell on Earth? "Imagine all the people Living for today..." They have to live for today because the "people's government" will take it from them indiscriminately tomorrow. Sorry John, I have seen and read all I need to on your "ideal" government of Communism. You may be a "dreamer" but everyone that has seen your "dream" felt like they were living in a nightmare.

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"The Killing Fields"

This is your special opportunity to witness the authentic killing fields in Phnom Penh when Khmer Rouge, a communist groupled by Pol Pot, took power in the capital of Cambodia on April 17th 1975. Not only does this film portray accurately the cruel intentions committed by the Ultra Communist Khmer Rouge Regime, but it also haunts you with the question on injustice as to why the prime minister of Cambodia would treat his people in this brutal way.

If you want to experience a vision of hell this will be the ultimate movie for you. Be prepared to be surrounded by dark moments of the past, where voices of the victims beaten by the Pol Pot men will be living in your senses.

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