The Killing Field

Rating: Null/10 (27 September 2011)

The Killing Fields is a film based on a true story that took place in Cambodia during the civil war. The film is about a New York Times journalist, Sydney Schanberg, who is in Cambodia investigating the situation, learning more about the US bombing campaign and the communist Khmer Rouge. The other protagonist is Dith Pran, who was Sydney's interpreter who helps him develop his stories, and eventually becomes close to Sydney. Dith spends most of his time behind Sydney in order to develop the story about the Khmer Rouge taking over the power. The Khmer Rouge were vicious guerrilla groups in Cambodia, that eventually caused many deaths. When Cambodia began to feel unsafe Dith decided to send his family to the United States, while he stayed in Cambodia helping Sydney create his story. Later on, after the uprising of events, they decided to leave to the US. Dith tries to breakout of his country with his fellow American journalist, when he was caught, and wasn't able to leave the country. A number of things happen, until he finally escapes with a crowd of people, but he is the only one that eventually makes it, to the US with the help of Sydney Schanberg. This film contains many bloody realistic events, that helps the audience to have the first hand experience of the events in the civil war in Cambodia at the time. According to Robert Ebert, "One of the risks taken by The Killing Fields is to cut loose from that tradition, to tell us a story that does not have a traditional Hollywood structure, and to trust that we'll find the characters so interesting that we won't miss the cliché. It is a risk that works, and that helps make this into a really affecting experience." This historical tragedy is important to students in Emerson because, journalism is one of the most known majors at Emerson. Students need to be aware of the historical events that journalists have been through and learn from those events. This is also a way for journalist to become aware of their surroundings when covering a story, and to be safe while doing what they most enjoy.