One wonders how anyone survived the devastation of Cambodia

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2005)

Filmed in Thailand and Canada, this epic film portrays the devastating effect on the land and its people when the Khmer Rouge plundered from the north. slaughtered and enslaved the population of Cambodia. The Kmer Rouge soldiers proclaim that this is year zero in the new order. Past years must be forgotten.
Not having been to Cambodia, I can only say that the bomb-blasted area of Phenomh Pen looked pretty authentic to me. It was a massive job for the director to control so many actors spread over enormous sets. Crowd scenes must be difficult to handle and there were many. Lots of shouting and yelling and shooting maintained a lively pace and huge explosions added to the general confusion of the war scenes.
The character Pran (a translator) had a sympathetic role almost sacrificing his life for the American journalist Sydney Scharnberg.
This is a film to be appreciated or admired rather than enjoyed. There are so many harrowing scenes in it that one begins to accept death as the norm, Many Cambodians must have felt the same way doubting that there could be any future after the carnage. Yet somehow over all there is a message of hope and a plan for peace. John Lennon seems to sum it up so well in his song "Imagine".
By the way, I wonder how much Coca Cola paid to feature one of its delivery vans in a couple of scenes.