Directed
by Roland
Joffé
Written by Bruce Robinson
Starring Sam
Waterston, Haing
S. Ngor, John
Malkovich, Julian
Sands, Craig
T. Nelson, Spalding
Gray, Bill
Paterson, Athol Fugard, Graham
Kennedy, Katherine
Krapum Chey, Oliver
Pierpaoli, Edward
Entero Chey, Tom
Bird, Monirak
Sisowath, Lambool
Dtangpaibool
Sydney
Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the
civil war in Cambodia. Together with local
representative
Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of
the war. When the Americans forces
leave,
Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind
himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an
American,
Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but
the situation is different for Pran; he's a
local, and
the Khmer Rouge are moving in.
Genre:
Drama / War
Runtime:
USA:141
Country: UK
Language: English
Certification: USA:R / Finland:K-16 / Sweden:15
gaddis
california
- 3 March 1999
Summary:
poignant
I
watched this movie with my father shortly after it came
out on video, so I would have been only 9 or
10 at the
time. I did not see it again until this year, but I could
still remember the scene of a lone man
stumbling
across a field strewn with the skeletons of his
countrymen. Watching it again was both a
moving and
a worthwhile experience.
There
are so many scenes which will, as the movie case says,
haunt the viewer long after watching. The
scene
already mentioned, Waterston and Ngor wandering through
the remains of the homes of Cambodian
civilians destroyed by American bombs, a little girl, her
hands over her ears, crying and
screaming,
surrounded by explosions and gunfire.
The
acting performances are top notch all round,
particularly, of course, by Dr. Ngor. The team of
Joffe and
Menges is superb, as they also are in The Mission. Both
films are in my video library.
As an
aside, whatever happened to Joffe? Super Mario Brothers?
The Scarlet Letter? The Mission and
The
Killing Fields are such rich, well-crafted films. It's a
shame that actors and directors are pulled
towards
Hollywood. Artistic integrity is priceless. Perhaps
that's why it's given away by so many.
