A gripping and saddening film, despite its numerousflaws

Rating: Null/10 (16 June 1999)

This film has many strengths. And a few weaknesses. Its powerful true story is one of the most haunting of the twentieth century, the systematic torture and genocide of 2 million people from the Cambodian population of 7 million during 1975-79 by a radical communist regime, the Khmer Rouge ("Red Cambodia"). The film depicts, with near perfect accuracy, the psychopathic guerillas who menacingly enslave and eradicate their countrymen while slapping and screaming. The graphic display of bloody bodies which litter the streets and fields, while very upsetting, adds to the authentic depiction of the Cambodian Massacre. A viewer is so powerfully convinced by this elegant presentation that he can actually picture himself there, in the heat of terror. No wonder The Killing Fields won an Oscar for best cinematography! As for the actors, I am among the minority of viewers who was not impressed by the main players. Sam Waterson portrayed the brash Sydney Schanberg with an annoyingly pompous attitude. John Malkovitch, though critically acclaimed for his role as Al Rockoff, didnt really add more than a few minutes of amusement. Julian Sands, who is a fine actor and probably the best of the Caucasian actors in this film, was too despondent to give a really inspiring performance, but that was the tone of the film, so he really isn't to blame. Haing Ngor, a real life Cambodian survivor, deserved his best supporting actor oscar for such a focused portrayal of Dith Pran, but even he came across as bland at times. Some of the Southeast Asian actors, while unknown to the western world (and probably the eastern world too) were so authentic and powerful that one wonders if they were really Khmer soldiers and peasants in real life. The scene where Phat, an educated landowner turned Khmer Rouge revolutionary, explains to Dith Pran how he sacrificed everything for the Khmer Rouge, only to be distrusted by them to the point where his life is in danger, was one of the most brilliant in the film. Another amazing scene was during the first hour of the film, when the American Embassy in Phnom Penh is evacuated by US Marine helicopters to Mike Oldfield's very bizzare (though appropriate) musical theme.
I object to the left wing political views of this film. Repeated references were made to the US bombings of Cambodia and Vietnam, and President Nixon is even shown giving an address on the "Nixon doctrine," as if the US was to blame for the Cambodian Massacre. It was not. America made some serious policy errors when intervening in the Vietnam and Cambodian wars, but they had nothing to do with the radical communist principles which have killed over 100 million in Europe and Asia during the past 80 years. And even more insulting, Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge chief who led the slaughter of his own people is never even mentioned in this film. Sydney Schanberg, when asked in the film by reporters if he and other journalists were to blame for underestimating the brutality of the Khmer Rouge, answers "maybe what we underestimated was the paranoia that 7 billion dollars worth of bombs could cause" another shift in blame from Pol Pot and his murderous communist regime. And finally, the last major flaw in this film was the cheesy ending, where Sydney and Pran are reunited to John Lennon's song "Imagine." Many critics have denounced that as a significant mistake by Roland Joffe. However, I did enjoy this film and hope that viewers who havent seen it yet but read this take heed, and try to see the facts through the mild distortions.