"Cambodia is the Nixon Doctrine in its purest form." - Dick Nixon
"People starve, but we must not grow food." - Dith Pran on the Angka (Pol Pot's regime)
Gut-wrenching stuff. A tale of friendship, the senseless carnage of war, the importance of a free press, the sins of America, and the cruelty of communism under Pol Pot. Mostly it shows incredible courage set to human tragedy and the jaw-dropping scenery of Cambodia. The cinematography is sublime, the gore, often to innocent people and their kids, is horrifying.
As moving as the film is, I wish it had been told completely from the POV of Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor), the Cambodian translator/journalist who ends up imprisoned after his family and Western journalists escape (including those played by Sam Waterston and John Malkovich). I would have liked to have seen his family life before the war, the dialogue in Khmer subtitled, and a little more Cambodian context. The first half of the film is certainly good, but suffers because of its attention on the Western journalists.
However, it begins soaring at about the 90 minute point when Waterston is sitting in his NY apartment listening to Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turnadot, and then cuts to Pran toiling in the mud with other captives at gunpoint. Those moments gave me goosebumps. We then see Pran suffering at the hands of brainwashed kids who are toting weapons and putting the populace through reeducation camps, and it's gripping. I can think of few better scenes that depict the horror of war and genocide than when he stumbles through that endless field of skulls and bones. Whenever the film focused on Waterston or Malkovich, such as that silly argument they have in the bathroom, my interest waned a bit, even though I admired the courage of the characters and their convictions.
That second half overall is brilliant though, and it's inspiring that it's a true story, with Pran ultimately joining his friend at The New York Times. That last line, coming from a guy who has been through hell, is stunning: "Nothing to forgive, Sydney. Nothing." It's too bad it's set to John Lennon's Imagine; as fantastic as that song is (probably my all-time favorite), it's misplaced here.
Gut-wrenching stuff. A tale of friendship, the senseless carnage of war, the importance of a free press, the sins of America, and the cruelty of communism under Pol Pot. Mostly it shows incredible courage set to human tragedy and the jaw-dropping scenery of Cambodia. The cinematography is sublime, the gore, often to innocent people and their kids, is horrifying.
As moving as the film is, I wish it had been told completely from the POV of Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor), the Cambodian translator/journalist who ends up imprisoned after his family and Western journalists escape (including those played by Sam Waterston and John Malkovich). I would have liked to have seen his family life before the war, the dialogue in Khmer subtitled, and a little more Cambodian context. The first half of the film is certainly good, but suffers because of its attention on the Western journalists.
However, it begins soaring at about the 90 minute point when Waterston is sitting in his NY apartment listening to Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Turnadot, and then cuts to Pran toiling in the mud with other captives at gunpoint. Those moments gave me goosebumps. We then see Pran suffering at the hands of brainwashed kids who are toting weapons and putting the populace through reeducation camps, and it's gripping. I can think of few better scenes that depict the horror of war and genocide than when he stumbles through that endless field of skulls and bones. Whenever the film focused on Waterston or Malkovich, such as that silly argument they have in the bathroom, my interest waned a bit, even though I admired the courage of the characters and their convictions.
That second half overall is brilliant though, and it's inspiring that it's a true story, with Pran ultimately joining his friend at The New York Times. That last line, coming from a guy who has been through hell, is stunning: "Nothing to forgive, Sydney. Nothing." It's too bad it's set to John Lennon's Imagine; as fantastic as that song is (probably my all-time favorite), it's misplaced here.