Touching story of friendship between two men

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2007)

I wasn't born when the war in Cambodia was happening so I didn't know anything about it till I watched The Killing Fields.
There is so many levels to this film. The main theme I think is the friendship between Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston), a journalist for The New York Times who is sent to cover the war between the country's revolutionary Khmer Rouge and Dith Pran (Dr Haing S. Ngor), his assistant who acts as an interpreter,guide and journalist/photographer. There are some very touching scenes between the two men, it is lovely to see two men who love one another, almost like brothers. The two actors Sam Waterston and Dr. Haing S. Ngor are just brilliant and had we in tears when they have to said goodbye to one another and Pran has to leave the embassy and they both know what happens to people like Pran. I especially loved the scene when they meet again and Pran runs into Sydney's arms and he tells Sydney that there is nothing to forgive.
I like the fact that the film flips between the two characters. We see Sydney desperately trying to find Pran and Pran trying to survive the starvation and torture and he can never be himself, he must keep himself guarded because he knows they will kill him. One of the most gripping scenes is when Pran has escaped the camp and he comes across the most gruesome sight of skeletons littered all over the place. The film is not afraid to show graphic scenes of the violence that was going on at the time in Cambodia which is not sugarcoated but it shows the brutality that men can show towards each other.
I feel the heart of the film is Pran. He suffered harsh treatment, starvation and torture from the Khmer Rouge and he doesn't seem to hate these people. He just accepts that he must follow their rules to survive so he can be with his family again.
Just because the film is based on a real story, doesn't mean you have a happy feeling inside you, that you know that Pran beats them and survives and is reunited with his friend and family. There is still tension and you are gripped when you see what Pran goes through to survive.
The music by Mike Oldfield is so appropriate and fits the mood of the environment. It is very well directed by Roland Joffe who keeps us to the edge of our seats up to the end.
I think what also helps is the fact that the actor playing Pran, Dr Haing S. Ngor went through the same thing as Pran and who better to know what Pran went through, then this man who was tortured and had to deny being a doctor and couldn't save his wife in childbirth for fear they would both be killed. It is amazing that it was his first film role and he definitely deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It is also sad that he survived Cambodia, only to be killed in a robbery. It was a waste and it should never have happened to this man who had been though enough already.