MovieChat Forums > The Killing Fields (1985) Discussion > Why was Phat, the Khmer Rouge leader, ki...

Why was Phat, the Khmer Rouge leader, killed?

posted 14 years ago by yujinmoto
6 replies | jump to latest

In the movie, it can be noted that Phat (played by Monirak Sisowath) was the leader of the section of the camp Dith Pran had been in. Realizing that Pran was an intellectual and thus not a brainwashed slave of the Khmer rouge, he puts his trust in Pran to look after his unnamed son (Lambool Dtangpaibool). When Phat witnesses a group of Khmer soldiers mercilessly shooting innocent civilians, he hands his son to Pran and tells him that he must "stop the killing". later, an alteraction between Phat and the troops are shown, with dialogue that remained untranslated and indecipherable. Phat is then immediately shot by one of the Khmer troops and his body left to rot in the open as the Khmer quickly escape and leave camp. I've always wondered in my heart WHY he was shot, simply for arguing with the soldiers? And if he was in a position of authority as a camp leader, why would he get shot by his own troops?

On a side note, I do wonder whatever happened to the actors who played Phat and his son - I notice in imdb that the "Killing Fields" was pretty much the only film they had a role in. If that is true, I find that sad, as they were a major part of the film and seemed quite overshadowed into obscurity.

[–] Odilwerk 14 years ago

I'm fairly sure I've seen the father of the son ( leader of the camp ) in at least one other film before, although I may be mistaken.

I think he gets shot to show the complete rigedness of the mentality the Khmer Rouge soldiers are instilled with. To have a member of the Rouge actually order you not to kill civilians in a sense puts you on a level with the civilian.

Meaning that they are both considered traitors to the mindset the 'year one' ideals stood for.

No mercy, at all.

[–] Mars_atax 14 years ago

One word: PURGES.

The Khmer Rouge leadership was intensely paranoid, and completely contemptuous of human life. So, if any party member exhibited the slightest amount of independent thought, real or imagined, it meant instant death.

I seem to remember hearing Pran say that the Khmer Rouge was now in a fight to the death with the Vietnamese (who, ironically, were themselves communists like the Khmer Rouge), and that the Khmer Rouge had a scorched earth policy. Pran said something like, "I fear that, when the Vietnamese arrive, they will find only ashes." Phat may have objected to this scorched earth policy, and was immediately executed.

[–] FilmLover1989 13 years ago

I think at one point in the film he also says something like "they are beginning to no longer trust me." I think this part of the film was very clever. It showed that some (probably many in reality) of the Khmer Rouge realised that they were not creating a Utopia, but only inflicting more suffering on their people. It also showed that, despite the family rules of the regime he belonged to, he still loved his son.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ajurna 12 years ago

If you go back a few scenes there is a shot where Phat and the guy who shoots him are sitting in the center of a room and are arguing with each other. The guy who shoots him is likely another leader, perhaps part of one of the other factions, or has a more direct connection to Pol Pot.

So when Phat goes out and tries to assert his authority the other guy must have had enough of him and just summarily executed him.

[–] agusdwikarna 12 years ago

It was a purge. Toward the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, Pol Pot was getting more and more paranoid of his own Khmer Rouge people. Khmer Rouge commandants were charged with false accusation (well, it was not like KR was ever keen in obtaining actual charges for their fellow Cambodians anyway), forced to write false confessions, and finally executed. Some of them were thrown into the infamous S-21 and other places that were previously used to murder other non-KR Cambodians. Sensing the danger, many high ranking KR commandants decided to run away and join the invading Vietnamese.