The Killing Fields (1984)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Roland Joffé

Writer:

Bruce Robinson (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 November 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Tagline:

He was a reporter for the New York Times whose coverage of the Cambodian War would win him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. But the friend who made it possible was half the world away with his life in great danger... This is the story of war and friendship, the anguish of a country and of one man's will to live.

Plot:

A photographer is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody "Year Zero" cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million "undesirable" civilians.

Plot Keywords:

Cambodia | New York Times | Khmer Rouge | New York | Airport

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 23 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Sam Waterston	...	Sydney Schanberg
Haing S. Ngor	...	Dith Pran (as Dr. Haing S Ngor)
John Malkovich	...	Alan 'Al' Rockoff
Julian Sands	...	John Swain
Craig T. Nelson	...	Major Reeves
Spalding Gray	...	U.S. Consul
Bill Paterson	...	Dr. MacEntire
Athol Fugard	...	Dr. Sundesval
Graham Kennedy	...	Dougal
Katherine Krapum Chey	...	Ser Moeum
Oliver Pierpaoli	...	Titony
Edward Entero Chey	...	Sarun
Tom Bird	...	U.S. Military Advisor
Monirak Sisowath	...	Phat - Khmer Rouge Leader
Lambool Dtangpaibool	...	Phat's Son

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | Khmer

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Enigma (First Casualty) Ltd.

Trivia:

The Coke factory in the movie was originally supposed to be a Pepsi factory, but Pepsi declined to be featured in the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dith Pran is in the French embassy, he is wearing his watch which he previously gave to a Khmer soldier in order to be taken with the American photographers.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sydney Schanberg: Cambodia. To many westerners it seemed a paradise. Another world, a secret world. But the war in neighboring Vietnam burst it's borders, and the fighting soon spread to neutral Cambodia. In 1973 I went to cover this side-show struggle as a foreign correspondent of the New York Times...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Peep Show: Jeremy's Manager (#5.5)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Nessun dorma

All-time, no-holds-barred, 100% favourite

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is about this film that gets to me so much, but it is THE most haunting, emotional film experience... and I've only ever seen it on video.

Excellent performances from Waterston, Ngor and Malkovich. A brilliant score by Mike Oldfield. Scenes of high emotion, tension, drama, horror and even one or two pieces of light relief (well, it has got Australia's Graham Kennedy of comedy fame).

The stand-out scenes for mine are those in the French Embassy; I can never watch the final scene from this sequence with a dry eye.

An excellent film and the soundtrack is not a bad investment either.