Alternately downbeat and depressing, this is an addition to the cycle of low budget Italian films of the 1980s in which the makers unwisely decided to display the true horror of warfare by making their war films gritty and unrelenting, with little joy or happiness in them - others notably include the Vietnam epic COBRA MISSION. As such, the viewing experience is rarely a pleasurable one, and the obscure ANGKOR: CAMBODIA EXPRESS reaches new lows of depressing realism with its depictions of sadistic torture, man's inhumanity to man, genocide and all round death and destruction. Shot in Thailand with a mostly Asian supporting cast, this is dark and dreary stuff, one of those jungle-set films where all the action happens at night, so watching and trying to stay afloat of it all is one hell of a tough job.
Journalist Andrew Cameron begins the film trying to free his Asian girlfriend from a Cambodian prison camp and failing miserably. Attempting to flee the country with evidence of the army's inhumanity - a friend caught the extermination of a village on camera - he is captured and taken to prison, where he endures all manner of unpleasant tortures and sees his eyeless friend get a nail through his hand. Eventually Cameron signs a deal and escapes, but returns to the border with a plan: to break into the camp, rescue his girlfriend, and escape. Somewhat unwisely, his plan is to act as a soldier for crazy renegade Colonel MacArthur (namely Christopher George in yet another Colonel Kurtz impression) and storm the place using stealth tactics. Of course, it all goes horrifically wrong.
ANGKOR: CAMBODIA EXPRESS begins with the brutal beating and death of a number of innocent people and ends with the tragic death of a leading character. In a film bookended by death, the main ingredient is also death, nearly everybody dies, although the heroic gun-down-a-dozen-bad-guys footage is kept to a minimum. There are a hundred words I could use to describe this production but sweaty, bloody, oppressive and dirty are probably the best. There are almost no redeeming features, other than a couple of neat performances from two veteran performers. The first is Christopher George (PIECES), surprisingly ruthless as the totally demented Colonel MacArthur; the second is an old and tired-looking Woody Strode, playing a soldier named 'Woody', who commits suicide in graphic fashion - it's that kind of film. Nobody lead Robert Walker Jr is utterly forgettable, although to be fair he isn't given the greatest of roles and does take one hell of a beating before the credits roll.
The UK version, which I discovered at an old flea market, has been renamed as BROTHERS IN ARMS, to make it sound more appealing to a mainstream audience I suppose. I was surprised to find the print in widescreen (a very rare occurrence, especially in the early '80s), but sadly a whole section of film about halfway through is repeated, making for a weird viewing experience. Not sure if this is a universal problem but I'm not totally surprised; I'm probably the first person to have bothered watching this film and notice the error. Okay, so the film does try for and achieve something different, and realism is strong throughout, but this kind of movie can be nobody's idea of entertainment and it loses points because of that.
Journalist Andrew Cameron begins the film trying to free his Asian girlfriend from a Cambodian prison camp and failing miserably. Attempting to flee the country with evidence of the army's inhumanity - a friend caught the extermination of a village on camera - he is captured and taken to prison, where he endures all manner of unpleasant tortures and sees his eyeless friend get a nail through his hand. Eventually Cameron signs a deal and escapes, but returns to the border with a plan: to break into the camp, rescue his girlfriend, and escape. Somewhat unwisely, his plan is to act as a soldier for crazy renegade Colonel MacArthur (namely Christopher George in yet another Colonel Kurtz impression) and storm the place using stealth tactics. Of course, it all goes horrifically wrong.
ANGKOR: CAMBODIA EXPRESS begins with the brutal beating and death of a number of innocent people and ends with the tragic death of a leading character. In a film bookended by death, the main ingredient is also death, nearly everybody dies, although the heroic gun-down-a-dozen-bad-guys footage is kept to a minimum. There are a hundred words I could use to describe this production but sweaty, bloody, oppressive and dirty are probably the best. There are almost no redeeming features, other than a couple of neat performances from two veteran performers. The first is Christopher George (PIECES), surprisingly ruthless as the totally demented Colonel MacArthur; the second is an old and tired-looking Woody Strode, playing a soldier named 'Woody', who commits suicide in graphic fashion - it's that kind of film. Nobody lead Robert Walker Jr is utterly forgettable, although to be fair he isn't given the greatest of roles and does take one hell of a beating before the credits roll.
The UK version, which I discovered at an old flea market, has been renamed as BROTHERS IN ARMS, to make it sound more appealing to a mainstream audience I suppose. I was surprised to find the print in widescreen (a very rare occurrence, especially in the early '80s), but sadly a whole section of film about halfway through is repeated, making for a weird viewing experience. Not sure if this is a universal problem but I'm not totally surprised; I'm probably the first person to have bothered watching this film and notice the error. Okay, so the film does try for and achieve something different, and realism is strong throughout, but this kind of movie can be nobody's idea of entertainment and it loses points because of that.
