Year : 1984 Director : Roland Joffé Starring : Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich Genre : War Drama
The harrowing but rewarding 1984 drama about a real life relationship between New York Times reporter Sidney Schanberg and his Cambodian assistant Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor), the latter left at the mercy of the Khmer Rouge after Schanberg - who chose to stay after American evacuation but was booted out - failed to get him safe passage. Filmmaker Roland Joffé, previously a documentarist, made his feature debut with this account of Dith's rocky survival in the ensuing madness of the Khmer Rouge's genocidal campaign. The script spends some time with Schanberg's feelings of guilt after the fact, but most of the film is a shattering recreation of hell on Earth. The late Haing S. Ngor - a real life doctor who had never acted before and who lived through the events depicted by Joffé - is outstanding, and he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Oscars also went to cinematographer Chris Menges and editor Jim Clark.
Very disappointing account of what really happened. Large chunks of the film are about the Americans involvement and political squabbling. There is little coverage of the torment and suffering the Cambodians encountered. Knowing the way the media works this will be the only portrayal of the conflict and I felt after watching this shortly after travelling around Cambodia that they were grossly mis-represented. The actor Haing S. Ngor, who plays Dith Pran actually wrote a book called Survival in the Killing Fields and if you compare that to this film you will see the difference. The book is excellent but heart wrenching at the same time, this film is sadly lacking.
Posts: 193 | Location: London | Registered: 10 August 2005
Americans involvment in Cambodia remains unanswered and still needs to be addressed. Remember this is based on real events, sadly Dith Pran's life in the US didnt pan out to well either.
A film that was made 20 years ago - and the only western film to have attempted to tell the story of the Cambodian genocide, it is a well made and decent effort!