1. Amrit Dhakal
Tribhuvan University
Faculty of Humanities & Social Science
Master’s level First semester
Journalism & Mass communication
Roll No: 21
Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus
Kathmandu Nepal
A brief review of: The KILLING FIELDS (1984)
Film Director: Roland Joffe
Recently I saw the movie which was the name of “The Killing Fields”. It is mainly related to the
conflict reporting on the Cambodian civil war that depicts how to reporting the news in front of
the war. Moreover, film director also tries to show the difficult job conflict reporting which
makes the exclusive issue to the people as well as how to report the live war on the conflict
spot.
This movie was directed by Roland Joffe (an English-born French film director who is known for
his Oscar nominated movies The Killing Fields and The Mission) gives amazing performance in
this film & absolutely give a factual scenario to the audiences. I was very much impressed of
this movie because I get new taste then the other traditional types of movie making trends. In
this movie I didn’t get any kinds of entertaining tools (songs, dances, fight between hero &
villain). But in fact we could introduced the root cause of conflict between the superior power
& grass level of peoples in this movie. Not only the fact of root cause of conflict but also we
could familiar about the destroyed evidence of Cambodian civil war.
This film was around 43 years before when opens in May 1973. The Cambodian national army
was fighting a civil war with the communist Khmer Rouge. A Cambodian journalist Dith Pran,
was a mediator for Sydney Schanberg, New York Times reporter. While Sydney awaits the
arrival of Phnom Penh airport Dith Pran was not there. Schanberg arrives after his flight is
delayed for three hours in Bangkok. At that time he was in troubled then take taxi to reach the
hotel. At the premises of hotel there was another boy who was his photographer friend Al
Rockoff. While they sit and talk in the restaurant one of the scooter riding man threw a grenade
and blasted over there. Suddenly Dith Pran arrived there & they found that the town had been
bombed and peoples were became a victim of bomb blasting. Schanberg and Pran are arrested
when they try to photograph the execution of two Khmer Rouge operatives by Cambodian
army officers.

2. The story moves ahead two years, to April 1975. The international embassies are being
evacuated Schanberg manages to secure evacuation papers for Pran, his wife and their four
children. Sydney & Prawn after returned from the hospital they were met the small unit of
Khmer Rouge troops, who arrested them at that time. That group taken them few person
Sydney, Prawn, Rockoff and Swain as well as their driver and towards the hidden place where
prisoners are being held there. During this time they are informed that the Khmer Rouge have
demanded that all Cambodian citizens in the embassy be turned over. Several months later
Schanberg was in the midst of a personal campaign to local Pran. He had appealed to many
humanitarian organizations and kept in close contact with Pran’s family in San Francisco.
In Cambodia, Pran had been a forced laborer. Pran labors in rice fields under the watchful eyes
of armed young childrens. Pran is also forced to attend propagandist classes where everyone
undergoes re-education. Before he was found by members of the Khmer Rouge, he stumbles
upon the infamous "killing fields" of the Pol Pot regime.
Meanwhile, Sydney Schanberg got a award for his coverage of the Cambodian conflict. At the
acceptance dinner he tells the audience that half the recognition for the award belongs to Pran
because he played a vital role for Sydney to win that Journalistic award. Schanberg wanted to
protect his efforts, saying that he has contacted every humanitarian relief agency possible in
the four years since Pran's disappearance.
By this time, the Khmer Rouge engaged in a war with Vietnam. The conflict reaches Pran's
region and a battle ensues between the Khmer Rouge of the compound and the invading
Vietnamese troops which are supported when two Vietnamese fighter jets are sent in to
destroy the camp. After taking the long trek in the Dangrek Mountain he saw Red Cross camp
near the border of Thailand. The scene shifted to Schanberg called Pran’s family with the news
that Pran is alive and safe. Soon after, Schanberg travels to the Red Cross camp in Thailand and
is reunited with Pran.
In a more conventional film, he would have really disappeared, and we would have followed
the point of view of the Schanberg character. But this movie takes the chance of switching
points of view in factuality and the last half of the film belongs to Dith Pran, who sees his
country turned into an insane parody of a one-party state, ruled by the Khmer Rouge with
instant violence and a savage intolerance for any reminders of the French and American
presence of the colonial era. Many of the best scenes in the film's second half are essentially
played without dialogue, as Pran works in the fields, disguises his origins, and waits for his
chance.

3. The film is a masterful achievement on all the technical levels it does specially good job of
convincing us with its Asian locations. But the best moments are the human ones, the
conversations, the exchanges of trust, the waiting around, the sudden fear, the quick bursts of
violence, the desperation. At the center of many of those scenes is Dr. Haing S. Ngor, a non-
actor who was recruited for the role from the ranks of Cambodian refugees in California, and
who brings to it a simple sincerity that is absolutely convincing. Sam Waterston is effective in
the thankless role of Sydney Schanberg, and among the carefully drawn vignettes are Craig T.
Nelson as a military attach and Athol Fugard as Dr. Sundesval.
This movie is filled with amazing actors who truly make the film realistic. First time feature
director Roland Joffe presented with an unforced realism of the limited portion of society but in
fact, this is factual compulsion of all over the world societies. We could also see the Vietnam
War & Tamil war of Sri-Lanka like this. But we couldn’t get any cinematography regarding that
matter. So this film is one of the best & representative feature film based on civil war. It's a
remarkably effective & choice, keeping the camera centered on Dith and Schanberg (The main
character of the movie) and the other journalists while embracing the vivid reality of their
surroundings.