"S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine"
During the four-year reign of terror from 1975 to ‘79
by the Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia an estimated
1.7 million of that country's citizens were murdered,
starved or worked to death. The Security Bureau of the
Khmer Rouge was a microcosm of this suffering as they
arrested, tortured and executed 17000 internees with
only three surviving, today, from their ordeal in the
detention center called "S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing
Machine."
This documentary by Cambodian-Canadian filmmaker Rithy
Panh starts of slowly and, at first, appears to be
material better suited for a 60-minute PBS program
about the Cambodian version of the Holocaust story.
But, as the intent of Panh's work subtly shifts the
perspective of his telling of those horrendous times
takes on a unique, intriguing edge.
Initially, you get some statistics, but not enough,
about the suffering the Khmer Rouge inflicted on that
small country of 7 million in just a few short years
trying to establish their ultra-leftist agrarian
nation. The advent of the notorious S21 center is
introduced and, of the thousands interned, tortured
and executed there, only three survive to tell about
the ordeal. Few in number, too, are the former jailers
willing to speak to the camera and explain their side
of what transpired in the troubled country.
The reflections and remembrances of the survivors are
vividly assisted by the artistic work of one, Vann
Nath, who survived S21 because he could paint and his
jailers liked his work. The torment, suffering and
dehumanization the inmates were subjected to is shown
in his deeply moving and disturbing paintings,
especially as he describes the daily abuse and death
he watched unfold.
Conversely, the jailers take the familiar "I was only
following orders" stance that the makers of genocide
use like a crutch to explain their heinous misdeeds.
Then, we learn that these "jailers" were as young as
12-years old and thrust into a job that required them
to shed their budding humanity. Panh does not
whitewash the atrocities committed by the wardens of
S21 but he gives a three-dimensional picture of the
psychological impact suffered on both sides of the
cell door.
Much of the film was shot at the facility that housed
the S21 detention center, now turned into a genocide
memorial, and is used effectively. In one sequence,
one of the jailers reenacts his ritual of coercion of
the prisoners as he yells and threatens to punish an
inmate whose only crime was turning in his sleep. The
scene is so well depicted and shot that your mind's
eye fills the empty cell with the suffering bodies of
the internees.
As the film progress Panh fills in more of the details
of this period of modern Cambodian history and he
makes the case for further prosecution by the world
court to bring the perpetrators of the genocide to
justice. "S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine" makes
an articulate and cogent argument that should be seen
and heard. I give it a B.
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38759 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1325941 X-RT-TitleID: 1126505 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: B
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