As much as Cambodia these days is known for its mesmerizing temple sites such as the complex of Angkor Wat, the country also casually display and capitalize the remains of the lives from the people who were lost during the occupation of Khmer Rouge.

This part of the dark history was not far of and the world must know, even remember that this kind of genocide should not happen again. Through “ First They Killed My Father”, utilizing the view from a child protagonist, the film attempted to bring the brutality of Khmer rouge into the screen. With a young protagonist, the movie could stir emotion of its viewer. It is gut-wrenching to see a children went through this and that could capture your attention to go through this two hour movie. It will leave you wanting more, to know if Loung, would survive her nightmare.

This two hour movie was actually an adaptation from a book “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers ”, written by Loung Ung who lost her parents and some of her siblings during the occupation of Khmer Rouge. This movie was a recount of her dark yet bittersweet past, during the time she spent as a happy child from a well-off family to become a children soldier and eventually, an orphan.

The movie started with a documentary of speeches that announced the US pulling its troops and people from the capital of Cambodia, Loung father who was a high-ranking official of a Lon Nol military. He could speak french and was seen talking to his friend that they are worried about the state of their country. Shortly after, when the Khmer Rouge entered her neighborhood at first everyone was cheering on them and Loung was also seeing the parade. But that short-lived cheered turned into a grim tale, a start of a long journey life-changing experiences.

Under the pretense that the American will bomb the capital within 3 days, everyone was asked to evacuate to the country side. However, Loung father, who knew what was bound to happened, remained calm yet telling his children what to do when they were asked about any questions and it was best to remain silent.

Some of these people had to leave their convenient life in the city to the jungle and countryside of Cambodia restating life under the idea that there is no class. Everybody is equal and the Angkar (organization) wanted to portray that they are the actual parents, the superior-being that would take care anyone but the nightmare started when these “utopia” wasn’t a utopia and soon turned out to be the justification of a genocide.

Through the eyes of a child, we will be taken into witnessing the brutality of Khmer rouge who were even looking down on the monks and forced them to do a hard labor work. They were seen as the leech of the community.

We will see child soldiers, the propaganda materials and how Loung eventually reunited with the siblings after days of starvation, running from shelling, and escaping the brutality of the Khmer Rouge soldiers.

During this time, culture, family, and many facets of society became lost. There were no diversity and everyone was dressed the same thing living in a similar styled hut. In one scene, it was revealed that the peasants supported the Khmer Rouge because they were tired of the bombings by The US and these ruthless soldiers mostly making up of peasants, were seen as the liberators.

The movie will leave you feeling traumatized and angry. These people, children, and anyone who were asked to evacuate had a life that seemingly happy. They liked just the way it was until these so-called "savior" asked them to vacate the capital.

Finally, there was the most heartbreaking scene, a scene when Loung was face to face with a member of Angkar soldier and having flashback of her father and families being executed. This Khmer Rouge soldier with a horrified look on his face sort of regretted and slowly realized the crime that he just committed.

I was surprised to find this adaptation movie was directed and the screenplay was written by Angelina Jolie with the original author of the book, Loung ung. For such movie, it was moving and the cinematography were one of its kind. The horror were portrayed so vividly and of course, the story, that mainly drives and lift the movie. I definitely recommend this movie if you want to explore a historical, war, drama genre and roughly learned what happened to Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge.

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credit of video to netflix trailer}