Marty wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2020 4:01 am
Agreed. Watch The Killing Fields instead.

Far superior movie. Killer soundtrack.

Agreed, the book is so much better.
One important point that the movie was unable to make was how skillfully the Khmer Rouge were able to exploit the urban-rural tensions taking place in Cambodia at the time - the "new people" vs. the "old people". I thought that the book did an excellent job of that. Couple that with the strategy of taking young teenagers to serve as soldiers and then posting them far from their families and support network, one can understand the mechanics of how the Khmer Rouge committed the genocide. I don't think anyone can ever answer the question of "Why?" though.

The KR were definitely worse in the book than they were in the movie. I reckon that the family actually got about the worst of it where they went to, and - as I think was alluded to in the book - there were areas where it was nothing like as horrific. In the movie it showed the Uncle in the earlier village telling them they couldn't stay, whereas my recollection from the book was that Pa made the choice. Either way, I reckon that was likely their big mistake as it was alright there. They got half the family through it anyway. If he was anything like the man portrayed in the movie, then Pa was a hell of a guy anyway. RIP Pa, Ma and the others.

I thought the acting was brilliant by the way. Were the main actors generally Cambodian Khmers or 2nd generation Aussies etc ? I presume the former but would never have guessed there was that much acting talent in Cambodia. They all spoke Khmer beautifully anyway. To my ear it's as pretty as Italian when it's spoken like that. The little kid who played the lead role will hopefully be a superstar and put Cambodia on the map for all the right reasons.

It was the movie I saw first on netflix, then read the book. The book was superior, as is often the case, but I did enjoy the film also, how it portrayed things, just the book is on the next few levels up.

I then read the sequel to it, "Lucky Child", about her life growing up after for the next couple of decades or so, and the family in Cambodia. Very interesting also and would recommend it.

Crappy crappy movie. City of Ghosts less crappy. The Quiet American the least crappy.

Marty wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 9:26 pm City of Ghosts less crappy.

Quite liked that movie. Wanted more hookers, but I always do.

Yeah decent movie, not a huge fan of those actors though. And yeah not a fair portrayal of the real amount of hookers.