The Killing Fields




The wind whispers of fear and hate.

Cambodia was never as popular a subject as Vietnam itself. Acclaimed as this film is, it ironically remains just as obscure as the subject itself.

Sydney (Sam Waterston) is an American journalist covering events in Cambodia during the last throes of the Vietnam war. Things get sticky when the country undergoes a civil war, with the Khmer Rouge party emerging on top. Passing up the chance to get out of the country before the capitol falls, the stationed journalists make the mistake of staying behind for reporting reasons, underestimating the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge.

It's an often taunt and calmly realistic account of the atrocities that occurred. Though the story switches over to Dith Pran's (Haing S. Ngor) point of view during the last third of the film, the rest comes from the fairly angry journalists. Sydney is outraged when the Americans bomb Cambodia, but at points like that the story is more than just a recounting of the facts. At its heart, though not easy to see immediately, is the friendship between Sydney and Pran. That's about the only hope Pran has going for him when he's caught under the country's oppressive regime in a dehumanizing labor camp.

The narrative structure isn't exactly conventional, and at times it's difficult to grasp the entirety of what's going on. But that, along with the equally unconventional but oddly stirring score, incorporates the situations with the characters for heart wrenching effect. Director Roland Joffé also creates more than a few exceptionally tense scenes, and not just with the sudden bursts of violence. At one such point the characters' true colors are shown when they madly rush to forge a passport.

Superbly cast, Haing S. Ngor, a non-actor native of Cambodia coming from a life not unlike Dith Pran's, is the one who walked home with an Oscar. And he earned every ounce of it with his warm portrayal of Pran. Sam Waterston is also aptly cast as Sydney, able to pull off his indignation and concern. And John Malkovich is all but perfect as a hard edged but caring photographer.

The Killing Fields is a work as quiet and powerful as it is warm and inspiring.



-The Gnome