KILLING FIELDS, THE

The Killing Fields is an "oomph" film which takes place during the Khmer Rouge's regime of Cambodia. An American journalist, Sydney Schanberg, and his Cambodian photographer/translator ,Dith Pran, are caught in the revolt and are eventually captured. The foreigners are sent out of the country but Dith Pran is taken prisoner. Roland Joffe was at first a seemingly important filmmaker. The Killing Fields was his first film and he followed it up with the equally powerful The Mission. Since then his career has been full of mediocre and atrocious films... what a waste. Along with films like Salvador, Hotel Rwanda and The Last King Of Scotland this powerful true story feels as relevant now as it was when it was made. Its the film that doesn't let us forget the atrocities which fell upon Cambodia and it's people. The performances are incredible. I never like watching Sam Waterson on screen but he is solid this time. The film's powerhouse performance, however, belongs to Haing S Ngor as Dith Pran. Having never acted previously he himself was a survivor of the Khmer Rouge and he considered the film to be his own way of bringing the story to the world. He won the Oscar for best supporting actor but I reckon his role deserved the award for lead actor. He has more screen time and a deeper humanity to his performance. The support acts are great too including John Malcovich, Julian Sands and Spalding Gray (and what the hell is Graham Kennedy doing in this?)... At the close of the film John Lennon's imagine is played over the final moments. When the song begins it seems a little tacky but as the power of Lennon's lyrics and optimism are sung, it highlights the power of the song and the astonishingly disbelieving realism of what man is capable of. I hadn't seen The Killing Fields for years but I'm glad I revisited. A great film.

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