The Killing Fields [DVD]

High praise from many a reviewer, which makes me wonder if any have actually watched it.I'd liken it to Queen's bohemian rhapsody of the film genre. Always gets voted best song, however no one ever listens to it.Great cast admittedly, although it's like many of whom are still learning to act, surprisingly wooden and hurried performances. It's awfully dated and really hasn't aged well, barely any atmospheric score, low quality definition.It's not in the least bit gripping or engaging. Frankly boring.

A pretty intense and brutal film. The film is looking good on Blu Ray despite being over 30 years old, it doesn't have the crisp super sharp image that modern Blu Ray releases have but the results here at still pleasing, balanced and natural looking. The Score is very 80s synth. The range of locations are all very impressive and believable, you can really feel the intense tropical heat on Cambodia. There's a fair bit of character development. The film for me felt like a mixture of hotel Rwanda, 1984 and Apocalypse Now. It's also a film about the power of journalism and the passion and righteousness individuals have who tells those stories that the powerful would rather weren't told. It also manages to be very critical of US foreign policy and communist atrocities.

Film at its finest to put on display how mans inhumanity to man prevails when madmen rule. Having lived through these times we, the public, had little knowledge of the brutality being handed out by the Kmer Rouge to native Cambodians. Shocking and eyeopening even though it was a film made for sordid entertainment. Great acting by all concerned which was very convincing. Apologies if this seems contradictory but it is written as I saw it.

I don't get this film, it just seems like a very irate American journalist pushing some Cambodian guys around and they are all submissive to him. He takes photos of dead people in rubble. He is so very angry with everybody. That's all that happens in the first hour. I stopped watching and did something else instead.

I'd give it 3.7 to be more precise. It was incredibly shot, some of the individual frames and panning cinematography was worthy of a gilded frame. The title and cover are somewhat misleading in my opinion, don't go into this expecting an 'Apocalypse Now' or 'We Were Soldiers' type deal as its far from it. It is based off a true story and should be viewed with expectations to match. A lot of the damning reviews may be rooted in this confusion, many say it's not gripping and at points its not, but its telling a story and its pacing (as I interpret it) is trying to mimic the feelings of the main characters. I have also seen reviews saying it is dated. If this is in regard to the technology, of course it is. If this is in regard to the way in which the relationship between the white journalists and the Cambodians is shown, that was the reality of the time of course its dated by modern standards but to remove any element of prejudice from a biopic would be a grievous miscarriage of responsibility on behalf of the story teller. In my opinion however it is true that some of the acting is a little rigid and this does make the film less compelling. With all this being said, personally, it does not rank in my list of 'greatest films', perhaps in the top 20, but it was nonetheless excellent and I can easily see how it is the pinnacle of moviemaking for some.

Strange to tell but I missed this film when it first came out. It is raw and tragic - what a mad political regime can induce. Apart from a couple of scenes where the music felt very dated, the rest of the score (as is the acting and scenery) is stunning. This is a must see for anyone who is a film fan.

Goes some way to explain what was happening with Cambodia and Vietnam in the 70’s. The horror that those people have tolerated has to be seen to be believed.

I could only wish to have the resilience the fortitude the Strength of mind and the Love of fellow Man that this Real Man, Dith Prtan has.A very well cast film, the portrayal of the characters by the cast is excellent, in my humble opinion.If you are not moved to tears by the sacrifices and losses endured by this Hero, You are lost to the vices and greed of this hostile inhuman society we in the west are foisting on the World.