Word: cambodians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Rouge under Pol Pot took over and instituted a bloodbath in the name of one of the most insane ideologies to come to the face of the earth. And their bloody rule gave way in 1978 to that of the Vietnamese, who are determined to fight "to the last Cambodian" to realize their long-sought aim of dominion over all of Indochina. The continual fighting has given rise to one of the most acute famines of modern times, has created a permanent presence of hundreds of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Cambodian border, and has sent a veritable diaspora...
Events of the winter have conspired once again to bring the plight of the Cambodians to Western attention. Here at home, a new movie. "The Killing Fields," tells the harrowing story of the friendship between New York Times correspondent Sidney Schanberg and his Cambodian assistant, Dith Pran, who was separated from his friend when the country fell in 1975 and who through his wits and luck survived through the three bloody years of Khmer Rouge rule that ensued...
Director Joffe and screenwriter Bruce Davidson go to great pains to draw a parallel between Schanberg's abandonment of Pran and America's abandonment of Cambodia. When Schanberg is given an award for his Cambodian coverage, he gives a tear-filled acceptance speech laying the blame for Cambodia's agonies on the long-gone doorstep of the Nixon administration. Just afterwards Rockoff confronts Schanberg in the men's room, reminding Schanberg that the single-minded persistence that got him the award might also have resulted in the death of his friend...
...guilt. But since Pran was not allowed to talk and independent thought was considered a crime, Joffe uses voice overs, mental "Dear Sidney" letters to expose the action and Pran's reaction. The technique backfires, and they might have been better off leaving off the whole section in Cambodian. A more intelligent solution would have been to use subtitles, letting the vicious regimentation of the Khmer Rouge speak for itself...
Joffe would also have been better off to let the movie speak for itself, rather than imposing a sappily obvious soundtrack. As Pran escapes through a Cambodian countryside literally littered with bodies, the gloomy music almost turns the horror into self-parody. Puccinni and John Lennon do not belong in the same movie, ever...