I don't think even this picture can accurately convey the horror of the Khmer Rouge and their policy of Cambodian genocide during the era of the mid-Seventies. It was a terrible time for that country with estimates upward of three million Cambodians massacred by the Pol Pot regime, and all because of an extreme combination of Marxism, Khmer nationalism and xenophobia. When Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor) stumbled onto the 'Killing Fields' of the film's title while attempting to escape the barbarism of his captors, one can only look on in fascination at an impossibly grotesque landscape. With a more than obvious slant regarding the Khmer Rouge as a by-product of American bombing in Cambodia, one might balance that view with a more careful reading of history, but even so, historians still fall on both sides of the matter. In any case, Cambodia was one of the dominoes that fell during this period with the help of the North Vietnamese Army during the early Seventies.

Haing S. Ngor was a fledgling actor when he appeared in this film as Cambodian journalist Dith Pran but one wouldn't know it. The picture and story becomes his following the evacuation of Phnom Penh and the victory of the Khmer Rouge rebels. One can't imagine what emotions and hardships the real Dith Pran must have undergone after the American contingent left. Surviving in turn by drinking cattle blood and relentlessly pursuing any possible means of escape, his story is one for the ages regarding one man's quest for freedom and dignity. There also comes a moment in the film when while viewing today, there's the added poignancy of observing the Twin Towers looming above a New York City landscape when Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) returns home from his Cambodian assignment.

To my mind, I don't know of any other film that touches on the Cambodian War and it's attendant horror the way this one does. It was a time when, as Dith Pran so accurately stated at one point - "The enemy is inside us. No one can be trusted." With all that, there's only one question I have about the making of the film and choice of scenic backdrops for much of the action, and that is, just how many times do you think it was necessary to be subjected to all that product placement by Coca-Cola?

Even now this is really the only thing that any Western viewer knows about Cambodia and the horrors that befell that country. Some great filming locations and performances round out the harrowing tale that doesn't shy away from the reality of what took place when the Khmer Rouge rose to power. Chilling stuff.

In 1973, New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) goes to cover the war in Cambodia with Dith Pran as his interpreter. They cover the war along side other journalists like Al Rockoff (John Malkovich) and Jon Swain (Julian Sands). A military adviser (Craig T. Nelson) tries to cover up an accidental American B-52 bombing of an innocent town. Eventually the Khmer Rouge threatens to overrun the country. Dith Pran decides to stay despite the danger while his family leaves. After the fall, Phnom Penh is evacuated and the group finds refuge in the French embassy. The foreigners are allowed to go home but Dith Pran and the locals are not so lucky.

Director Roland Joffé creates a masterpiece. It is shockingly intense without warning. It is deep emotionally. He captures the desperate instability and the unknowable fear of the fall of the capital. The chaos and the random brutality is perfect. The acting is superb. Developing a picture has never been more intense. Then the movie does the unthinkable. It hands over the lead and the movie to a no name amateur Cambodian actor. The great surprise is that the movie is as compelling as ever. This is a historical biopic masterpiece from start to finish.