I'm not usually the type of person to say this -- generally, I love a film that starts slow, gives the audience time to get into the story, and is of a longer-than-average length. The Killing Fields, however, was an example of a movie that could have used some major condensing.
All the scenes portraying Dith Pran's experiences under the Khmer Rouge were exceptionally done, but they were just about the only good things in this film.
Most of the film felt confused, thrown-together and lacking any sort of direction. It started with the US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War and jumped all over the place before finally settling into the Khmer Rouge's regime. One needs to have a thorough knowledge of Cambodian history to even vaguely understand what is going on in this film. I had to constantly explain what was happening to my parents while watching, and even I had trouble figuring out exactly what was meant to be happening during the first half of the film or so. They tried to squish the US bombing of Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge regime and it just didn't work.
There is far too much focus on America and the journalism thing just got in the way. There was almost no exploration of who the Khmer Rouge were and what they were trying to achieve in Cambodia.
Honestly, the movie could have been great if it was simply edited down, a bunch of scenes taken out, and some more explanation so the audience actually understood what was happening. If it had started with the evacuation of Phnom Penh (perhaps a little before that) and gone from there, and forgot about America for a little bit, it would have been a thousand times better.
All the scenes portraying Dith Pran's experiences under the Khmer Rouge were exceptionally done, but they were just about the only good things in this film.
Most of the film felt confused, thrown-together and lacking any sort of direction. It started with the US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War and jumped all over the place before finally settling into the Khmer Rouge's regime. One needs to have a thorough knowledge of Cambodian history to even vaguely understand what is going on in this film. I had to constantly explain what was happening to my parents while watching, and even I had trouble figuring out exactly what was meant to be happening during the first half of the film or so. They tried to squish the US bombing of Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge regime and it just didn't work.
There is far too much focus on America and the journalism thing just got in the way. There was almost no exploration of who the Khmer Rouge were and what they were trying to achieve in Cambodia.
Honestly, the movie could have been great if it was simply edited down, a bunch of scenes taken out, and some more explanation so the audience actually understood what was happening. If it had started with the evacuation of Phnom Penh (perhaps a little before that) and gone from there, and forgot about America for a little bit, it would have been a thousand times better.