The Killing Fields is an American motion picture, released in 1984. It was directed by Roland Joffe and stars Sam Waterson as Sydney Schanberg, Haing S. Ngor as Dith Pran, John Malkovich as Al Rockoff and Julian Sands as Jon Swain.

The Killing Fields contains vivid and sometimes harrowing depictions of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Much of the film focuses on the relationship between Pran, a Cambodian journalist, and Schanberg, a reporter for the New York Times. They meet in May 1973 when Schanberg arrives in Phnom Penh and Pran is assigned as his interpreter. At this time Cambodia is being devastated by American bombing, while the Cambodian government is taking brutal measures against the communist Khmer Rouge. Schanberg spends most of the next two years in Cambodia and he forms a close friendship with Dith Pran.

The film then switches to the eve of the Khmer Rouge occupation of Phnom Penh. As foreign diplomats and reporters are being evacuated from the capital, Schanberg arranges for Dith Pran to accompany them. Pran, however, chooses to stay behind. When Schanberg and photographer Al Rockoff are arrested by the Khmer Rouge, Pran negotiates to save their lives. The group takes refuge in the French embassy.

The Americans eventually leave Cambodia but Pran stays. To avoid execution, he conceals his education, his previous work and his ability to speak French and English. Pran becomes a peasant labourer, forced to work and attend ‘re-education’ classes by the Khmer Rouge. During a failed escape attempt he stumbles into the notorious ‘killing fields’, a dumping ground for the bodies of more than a million Cambodians killed or starved by the Khmer Rouge.

The Killing Fields earned widespread critical acclaim and recognition. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three: best editing, best cinematography and best supporting actor (Haing S. Ngor). The last of these awards was particularly remarkable, given that Ngor was a Cambodian-American doctor who had never acted before.

Critics praised The Killing Fields for its visual depictions of Cambodia and its representation of Khmer Rouge, who are shown as violent, unpredictable and ferociously anti-Western. The film’s real focus, however, is on human elements, particularly its tense exchanges and the relationship between Pran and Schanberg.

---

Content on this page is © Alpha History 2016. Content created by Alpha History may not be copied, republished or redistributed without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use.