MovieChat Forums > The Killing Fields (1985) Discussion > This movie ought to be shown at least on...

This movie ought to be shown at least once a year to every generation.

posted 17 years ago by ikinmoore
12 replies | jump to latest

When I first saw this film, I cried my heart out for it was so tragic. A country which was overthrown by a regime who brainwashed children into killing their own countrymen.
Based on a true story, it told a tale about two men, one who was trapped in the
regime which murdered it's own kind and caused deaths of over one million people.

I personally loved the film. The acting was first class and fortunately not done by the Hollywood mogues. It was gritty, violent, and very depressing in places yet it told a story about two men who survived the torments of the regime which nearly destroyed a country. I only wished that history would never repeat itself but then again, I maybe living in fairy land.

A brilliant film. It was a love story which was differently told.

The best films are made in an intelligent format.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Mars_atax 16 years ago

I agree.

We should never take for granted what we are fortunate enough to have in the America, Britain, the West, and other free countries around the globe. People don't realize that the ultimate in brutality is not only possible, but has happened several times, from the Nazis to the Khmer Rouge and on it goes. Freedom is by no means automatic. It is, in fact, our most precious resource.

[–] Midnight_Blues 16 years ago

I so much agree with you. I was 11 or 12 when I first watched this film, it's one of the most important marks in my life, through it I realized there was a whole cruel world outside and how sheltered and peaceful my life was, being born in western Europe. I can't put in words how much this film marked me, how its horror shaped who I am, for the better I hope. Sadly, different people see things in different ways, I know many people who can watch this unscathed, who will forget it in a second or make jokes about the situation... Just look at the world outside and how genocides still happen.

[–] jdkraus 15 years ago

Just finished watching it. Probably one of the best films I've seen all year (checking out of the library that is). I'm disappointed that Joffe didn't win best director. I can understand Amadeus winning picture, script, and actor, but Joffe's direction is so moving and captures the grittiness, depression, and darkness of such a horrible event that has happened in this world. Yet it's still sad that people think they have to commit a mass genocide over a difference in belief, opinion, or pure evilness. This film almost made me cry.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Rayek_ 14 years ago

The Killing Fields is one of those all too rare movies, a movie that challenges you to think about what you have just witnessed on screen, a movie that has the power to make you very aware that human tragedy and persecution are very much with us today. That said, the film concerns one man's triumph over unbelievable tragedy and adversity.

The cinematography is first class, and the acting is all too believable. To appreciate the full enormity of this film I would strongly recommend reading up on the events with which the film is concerned. This film is hard to fault, and the ending with John Lennon's "Imagine" in the background is perfect and may well reduce you to tears.

"Youth is life's paradise; joy is the eternal youth of the spirit."

[–] crystalrope 14 years ago

I agree, and I would add to that list "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List"

More people need to understand just how horrible man's inhumanity to man can be.

Crys

[–] rc-108 13 years ago

I also agree..

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] Errington_92 12 years ago

Such a gripping tale of the horrific inhumanity war can cause. The emphasis on human emotions being drawn into and inflicted by mass violence greatly made The Killing Fields convey anti - war sentiments.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".

[–] Mars_atax 12 years ago

"Such a gripping tale of the horrific inhumanity war can cause."

Actually, the worst atrocities of the Khmer Rouge happened during peacetime, 1975-78 (though you could make a case that the K.R. was waging war against its own people).

America pulled out of Cambodia (and Vietnam) in 1975, and so that war ended.

Another war began in the winter of 1978-79, as Vietnam invaded Cambodia and drove the K.R. from power.