Important subject, overshadowed by politics

Rating: 3/10 (28 April 2003)

*Possible spoilers*
The Killing Fields attempts to tell the story of the Cambodian holocaust through its two main characters, NY Times journalist Sidney Schanberg and Cambodian Dith Pran. Unfortunately, the film only succeeds in telling Schanberg's view of the Cambodian Holocaust.
As mentioned by a previous reviewer, Pol Pot, the architect of the tragedy, is not mentioned once. Schanberg's unwillingness to see the Khmer Rouge for what they really were is briefly touched on, but that is excused by the journalist attempting to blame the holocaust on the Nixon Administration and their bombing campaign. While it can be argued that there may have been more humane ways to attempt to prevent the Communist takeover, realistically there weren't any other options available to the Nixon administration given the legislative handicaps placed on them by the Congress regarding action in Cambodia. It would've been nice to see that point addressed, as it would have been nice for the film to acknowledge that four days before the Khmer Rouge victory, Schanberg wrote a column for the NY Times entitled, "Indochina without Americans: For most, a better life." The horrors being committed by the Khmer Rouge in eastern Cambodia had been reported by refugees for well over a year by that point, and yet Schanberg and the Times refused to acknowledge it.
It is bad enough that this film perpetuates the canard that the Americans were to blame for the holocaust because of their bombing campaign. What is absolutely unacceptable is that while passing judgment on US policy, this film never once brings up, let alone finds fault with, the North Vietnamese policies in Cambodia. It was under the auspices of the North Vietnamese that the Khmer Rouge was founded in 1959. It was in Hanoi that Pol Pot and 30,000 other KR's found sanctuary and training. It was Hanoi that initially violated the neutrality of Cambodia, taxing and conscripting peasants into their cause of conquest. It is the very height of absurdity that this film blames the US while not once mentioning either Pol Pot or the NVA's role in what occurred.
All that being said, the story of the Cambodian holocaust is very important history that should be known by all. It is my hope that this tale will be given more balanced treatment in the future by someone in Hollywood. But given its current aversion to making films about the crimes of Communism or ones with plot, I won't hold my breath.