The Killing Fields (1984)

Rating: 9/10 (11 March 2020)

Directed by Roland JoffÃ©. Starring Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich, Craig T. Nelson, Julian Sands, Spalding Gray, Athol Fugard, Bill Patterson, Monirak Sisowath, Graham Kennedy. (R)
Frightening, powerful true story based on American journalist Sydney Schamberg's memoirs, "The Death and Life of Dith Pran," focusing on the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia toward the end of the Vietnam War, depicting not only his experiences in escaping the wartorn region but also the agonizing hardships suffered by his friend and fellow journalist, Dith Phan (Ngor). A gut-wrenching film, but also one about the triumph of the human spirit; there may not be a dry eye in the house when John Lennon's "Imagine" is fittingly played over the final scene. A non-professional when he was cast, Ngor lived through similar events in his own life (with an even more harrowing outcome), and he's pretty much perfect in his Oscar-winning role. Long and occasionally pedantic (especially in some of the scenes with Waterson in the second half) but gripping all the same. Also won Academy Awards for its editing and photography.
88/100