Killing fields

[rejenorst]

Although this movie has been mentioned in someones list I thought I'd give it a brief mention, especially considering you can watch it in full on youtube split in 13 parts. I don't know about the legitimacy of that but I havn't seen this movie around in any video stores before. The first time I heard of this movie was in Cambodia itself. The movie strangely enough was not as overwhelmingly depressing as the genocide museum in Cambodia itself, but it was a great movie and well worth watching. Filmed or released in 1984.

The **** the Cambodians had to go through pretty much ruined the country and unfortunately given that many families had members on both sides of the conflict you can get a strange sense of just how haunted people are by the events of the past when you start to ask questions.

When I wanted to quiz people about the history they started to get nervous and didn't want to talk about it. It was later that someone told me (in whispers) that many of the people responsible were still sitting in government positions and that people are afraid to talk about it just in case.

It seemed the younger generation are stark contrast in terms of liveliness compared to their elders given that they were born after the worst of it.

Cambodia's civil war ended in 1998. There are still thousands of landmines all around the country that affect the civilian populations, in particular farmers.




Anyway has anyone seen this movie?

隐藏

Its a weird feeling someone telling you your walking through an old minefield. Its like... what if they ****ing missed one?! heh these are defused:
http://rejenorst.com/vids/DSC_0066.JPG
http://rejenorst.com/vids/DSC_0067.JPG

Our friend explained that the type in the first pic was the one that took his leg:
http://rejenorst.com/vids/DSC_0069.JPG

 

[Devercia]

No, I do have to write a paper on Cambodia soon, so please do go on. Might take a look later.

 

[rejenorst]

No, I do have to write a paper on Cambodia soon, so please do go on. Might take a look later.

Any particular aspect you wish me to focus on? Be aware my knowledge of history of Cambodia is far from perfect, I have few photos of the genocide museum and weapons of war and some other places of interest including Angkor Watt if you want me to upload them or discuss them. But my knowledge will only serve you keywords at best for you to conduct further research.

 

[Togakure]

It's been here in the US for many years.  I've watched it several times, and used to own it on VHS.  It's a great drama and showcases a calamity that few over here know much about.  I'd only heard the Khmer Rouge mentioned in a few newspaper articles about Vietnam, and until I saw this movie I didn't know much at all about them or what had happened in Cambodia during that terrible time.

This guy was recently convicted.  Reading various articles about it brought back memories of the movie.

Edit: Incidentally, memories of that movie were the first thing to come to mind when I read that you were traveling there.  I thought, "why would anyone want to go there?"  When you described the weapons adventures, I thought "ok, that I could get into."

 

[rejenorst]

隐藏

It's been here in the US for many years.  I've watched it several times, and used to own it on VHS.  It's a great drama and showcases a calamity that few over here know much about.  I'd only heard the Khmer Rouge mentioned in a few newspaper articles about Vietnam, and until I saw this movie I didn't know much at all about them or what had happened in Cambodia during that terrible time.

This guy was recently convicted.  Reading various articles about it brought back memories of the movie.

Edit: Incidentally, memories of that movie were the first thing to come to mind when I read that you were traveling there.  I thought, "why would anyone want to go there?"  When you described the weapons adventures, I thought "ok, that I could get into."

Yeah I can safely say if you just going to visit the country for its recent past then prepare for a very depressing trip. However the main Cambodian attraction are the temple sites such as Angkor Wat:
http://rejenorst.com/vids/DSC_0435.JPG

 

[Baguette Eater]

My neighboor made it out of that genocide and from what I heard him talk about it, holy ****ing crap he is really lucky to made it out 

 

[Devercia]

No, I do have to write a paper on Cambodia soon, so please do go on. Might take a look later.

Any particular aspect you wish me to focus on? Be aware my knowledge of history of Cambodia is far from perfect, I have few photos of the genocide museum and weapons of war and some other places of interest including Angkor Watt if you want me to upload them or discuss them. But my knowledge will only serve you keywords at best for you to conduct further research.

Well, I have to make a short presentation about why someone would want to visit, and a 10 page paper discussing any but only 1 issue that occurred there. Khmer Rouge is pretty much the only one that comes to mind for the paper, and Angkor Watt for the presentation.  I imagine the discussion in this topic alone will be what I need.

 

[Josef_the_Pretender]

You could do the paper on the whole Year Zero thing, including the execution of intellectuals (people who wore glasses) and the eventual failure of the agrarian policies. I mean, how the **** do you come up with something like that? If that's not enough then you could expand to include the Khmer Rouge and even the Tuol Sleng thing which as Togakure mentioned, recently resulted in a conviction.

For something different, you could maybe discuss the way of life of the people in the Tonle Sap region. It's a big lake that swells to 5 times its size during rainy season, so people live on floating villages etc so that they can ebb and flow with the lake. I don't have any sources on any of these things though.

As regards what would make you visit the country, it is hard to look past the Angkor Wat thing, though I loved the place generally. It's hard to believe the people were inflicting the worst horrors on each other not so long ago.

I was sitting at work a couple of weeks ago and started thinking about Angkor Beer. I convinced myself that it is the nicest beer I've ever tasted, and have almost planned a trip out there next year on that basis. Not sure if that's a suitable topic for your presentation though. 

 

[rejenorst]

For something different, you could maybe discuss the way of life of the people in the Tonle Sap region. It's a big lake that swells to 5 times its size during rainy season, so people live on floating villages etc so that they can ebb and flow with the lake. I don't have any sources on any of these things though.

I went out on a boat on a lake near Siem Riep where there were whole villages floating in the water. I dunno if that's the same area though. My geographical knowledge of the region is lame at best.

 

[Devercia]

As interesting a floating villages are I don't think I could write 10 pages on it. It kinda sucks that the most voluminous topic is the Khmer Rouge and related issues.

 

[Josef_the_Pretender]

I went out on a boat on a lake near Siem Riep where there were whole villages floating in the water. I dunno if that's the same area though.

Yeah, that's it. Did you take the boat down to Phnom Penh from there? A floating deathtrap, it was, and I'm still waiting to hear of 200 tourists being lost when one of them capsizes Best bit of my trip though, that journey down the river.

 

[rejenorst]

I went out on a boat on a lake near Siem Riep where there were whole villages floating in the water. I dunno if that's the same area though.

Yeah, that's it. Did you take the boat down to Phnom Penh from there? A floating deathtrap, it was, and I'm still waiting to hear of 200 tourists being lost when one of them capsizes Best bit of my trip though, that journey down the river.

Nah man, I was in no hurry to head back to Phnom Penh, I bused it to Siem Riep from Phnom Penh and bussed it back due to time... and then ended up busing back to Pnom Penh from the Vietnam border due to a problem with the visa which I thought was multi entry. Missed my flight and flew via Thailand back to Manila. 15 hours in a bus. I was not a happy chappy. 

 

[Togakure]

Hey rej, was just reading this article about a new film that's drawing a lot of attention here in the US and thought you might find it interesting if you haven't heard about it already:

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2010/1119/Khmer-Rouge-film-spurs-Cambodians-worldwide-to-revisit-buried-history

 

[Familyguy1]

I want to see that movie..but I cant find a place to watch it.... it released in July 2010 I believe...

 

[Josef_the_Pretender]

Hey rej, was just reading this article about a new film that's drawing a lot of attention here in the US and thought you might find it interesting if you haven't heard about it already:

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/2010/1119/Khmer-Rouge-film-spurs-Cambodians-worldwide-to-revisit-buried-history

I must keep an eye out for that. Am reading a biography of Pol Pot at the moment. At this point, 60 pages in, he seems like an eminently sensible young man, so it'll be interesting to see where it all goes wrong.