a film by Roland Joffé
If you don't know or have never heard about the story of Dith Pran you are missing an incredible story of endurance and strength of the human spirit on the most adverse conditions. If you don't know or have never heard about the Khmer Rouge and the totalitarian government of Democratic Kampuchea and its atrocities you may sleep better but you may as well continue sleeping.
There is only one way in which this movie is not ranked among the most scary films I have ever watched and it is the incredible story of survival and friendship that in the end is delivered by this film. Both the horror and the hope go together in this story, and what the movie really gets to deliver is the feeling that even when the film is excellent in telling the story, reality is larger than anything that can be condensed in the screen, both in in horror and hope.
I thought of a phrase from Yi Yi while I was watching this movie and it is: "People live three times more since movies were invented". In this case it renews its meaning and makes me think that there is no more vivid "and safer" way to get immerse in the events than going through the story accompanied by the sound and the images that can only become real in the screen in a movie like this one. It is easy to connect with the character as it is open in a personal level but it still preserves the context of the real events. I felt horror while watching the Khmer Rouge on top of a tank waving their weapons and felt the cold climb up my spine in the silence of the work fields.
This is an amazing story and it deserves to be told. It probably overpowers the film, but if you didn't know about it, this is a great place to start.
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