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:

Supporting actor Spalding Gray wrote a monologue about his experiences filming this movie, which was later filmed as Swimming to Cambodia (1987).

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 "The Critic: Miserable (#1.4)" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Nessun dorma

Far greater than a 7.9 rating

Killing Fields is on par with, if it doesn't exceed, the power of any war movie ever made. I liken it to Hotel Rwanda, Cry Freedom, and The Quiet American, all films seen through the eyes of simple men in extra-ordinary circumstances. The magnitude of the brutality of the Khmer Rouge is perfectly and savagely captured as innocent men, women, and children are summarily executed absent the slightest provocation. It is a film that makes you say, I didn't realize that happened ala Hotel Rwanda. Every child over ten should be shown this film to truly understand that evil exists and the world is not all McDonalds and fun. There are human beings just like us living under an indescribable fear that death is coming and there is nothing they can do about it. Sam Waterson is wonderful as the protagonist and of course Haing S. Ngor is stunning as Dith Pran. See this movie and it will change the way you view the world.