"A Wonderful New Film for All Future Generations!" (Not a Spoiler)

Rating: Null/10 (20 October 2004)

This is a terrific biographical action drama set in an American conflict that few of us know anything at all about. Like its subject matter the film has crept into relative obscurity, despite its seven Academy Award Nominations, including one for Best Picture. It won in three of these seven categories, including Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor for Dr. Haing S. Ngor.
It takes place in the post Vietnam era, during the Cambodian Revolution when the Khmer Rouge took power and it provides us with a behind the scenes look the highly unpublicized American involvement. It's primarily based on the relationship that develops between Pulitzer Prize Winning New York Times Reporter, Sydney Schanberg and his guide, interpreter and fellow journalist Dith Pran, (Ngor). Sam Waterson, who received an Oscar Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, portrays Schanberg, whose relentless determination leads to accusations and profound feelings of guilt for compromising the safety of Pran by delaying his evacuation.
Much of the remainder of cast is impressive as well. John Malkovich is splendid in the role of Al Rockoff, an American photographer on assignment with Schanberg, Julian Sands as British journalist Jon Swain and many others.
This is the film that taught me to put my closed captions, for the hearing, (and listening), impaired, to good use. Even with an exceptional home theater system, (which is probably as effective as any one found in the cinema in 1984), I found it impossible to understand much of the dialogue, due to the thick Cambodian accents. The second time I saw the film I used my captions, as needed, to be sure that I not only heard, but also understood every word. What's the old saying? It was like watching it again for the very first time. Since then it's been my policy that any movie worth watching twice is worth hearing once.
The graphic violence is extreme and in that respect, may well have paved the way to the future for such award winners as "Platoon" & "Black Hawk Down". I suspect that this is due, at least in part, to the fact that the screenplay was written based on the actual accounts from journalist who experienced this war from its frontlines. Schanberg & Pran, in particular, might just as well have been fighting themselves.
I no longer own this movie and it's been sometime since I last saw it, therefore I apologize if some of my facts are not in order. Prior to writing this I did make an effort to rent it, not so much to refresh my memory, but more to revisit an old friend. Unfortunately, it appears as though the largest video rental establishment in the Southeast has forgotten this flick as well, at least in their Charlotte stores. Part of the irony here is appropriated in the film's tagline, "Every so often, there is a film that is destined to be talked about and remembered for years to come". What I do remember, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is the fact that this is a magnificent film that depicts the horrors and extremities of war, while illustrating a genuinely interesting drama, as well as any I've ever seen.