lacks unity

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2004)

I see that most reviews describe this movie as amazing, etc. but I was actually pretty disappointed by it. For one, it was too long. My other criticism is that it lacks unity, somewhat like Full Metal Jacket but even more so. It touched on many important and interesting topics (the friendship and quest for Pran, the "year zero" program, the hypocrisy of war, the hardships of journalism, etc. , the list is long) but ended up skimming the surface of each. As a result, this movie is under-developed. It could have been made into more than one movie; Pran's experience in the labor camp, for example, could / should have been made into a movie of its own.
On the other hand, "The Killing Fields" should be given credit for coming before all the great war movies we all refer to now (Platoon, Full Metal Jacket...) and most likely influencing them. It should also be given credit because so few movies actually refer to Cambodia. Everyone is so interested in Vietnam and WWII that Cambodia is very often left behind. The acting was great (although I'm not sure about the Oscar... opposite John Malkovich? No-one should win opposite John Malkovich!) but the music got on my nerves for the most part.
Overall, the fact that the movie was so chopped up and that it went everywhere (and that it was long) didn't really do it for me. I just waited for it to end, but I suppose I'm glad I watched it.