Angelina Jolie’s directorial effort, “First They Killed My Father,” emerges as a profoundly accomplished and artistically resonant film, drawing comparisons to the evocative works of Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung. The film masterfully adapts the 2000 memoir by Cambodian author Loung Ung, offering a deeply personal and harrowing account of growing up amidst the Khmer Rouge regime’s brutal violence in the mid-to-late 1970s. life style keto shop This Netflix production, with Maddox Jolie-Pitt, the director’s adopted Cambodian son, credited as an executive producer, is a testament to the power of storytelling in confronting historical atrocities.
A Nation Under Siege
The narrative is set against the backdrop of Cambodia, a country with which Jolie shares a significant personal connection. The film chronicles Loung Ung’s childhood experiences, portraying her as a young girl whose family, including her policeman father (played by Phoeung Kompheak), lived under the shadow of the former US-backed regime. Upon the Khmer Rouge’s revolutionary takeover, the family’s precarious existence is thrown into chaos. Recognizing the fanatical loathing the new rulers held for anything associated with the previous government, Loung’s parents attempt to erase any hint of their past affiliation.
The Devastation of Khmer Rouge Ideology
Loung’s father is forced to conceal his profession, presenting himself as a mere laborer to avoid being targeted for execution or sent to “re-education camps.” Despite the psychological torment of being addressed in French by Khmer Rouge soldiers, a language symbolizing the ousted regime, he must suppress his identity. The family is forcibly relocated to an agricultural collective, a place where the focus is not on cultivation but on instilling shame, fear, and reinforcing the new regime’s theater of cruelty.
The pervasive hunger endured by the children is starkly depicted, including a chilling scene where a large spider is caught, cooked, and consumed. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, in collaboration with Jolie, crafts eerily beautiful overhead shots that emphasize the ideological labor farm from an unsettling perspective, rendering the workers akin to insects. The film poignantly illustrates the immense personal losses, such as when Loung’s mother is granted only a few seconds to mourn her deceased daughter before being compelled to continue working. A sibling’s explanation of reincarnation – the idea that the deceased remain in a deep sleep for three days before realizing their death and preparing to return – is met with Loung’s grim hope that her sister does not return to such a nightmare. The devastating reality prompts their mother to urge them to flee.
Political Context and Personal Trauma
Jolie frames the narrative within a broader political context, extending blame beyond Pol Pot to include the devastating impact of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger’s clandestine bombing campaigns against neutral Cambodia. The film suggests that the US government’s actions inadvertently fueled the Khmer Rouge’s rise by creating a cycle of pain, anguish, and rage, thereby strengthening their popularity. However, the film’s most visceral impact is reserved for its unflinching portrayal of the Khmer Rouge ideologues and their reign of terror.
The initial sense of woozy visual stillness, through which Loung perceived the strangeness of her new life, gives way to an overwhelming depiction of hardship and pain. The concluding scenes, featuring the real-life figures as adults, hint at the possibility of healing, closure, and forgiveness. Yet, the profound horror that has unfolded remains an indelible scar, making true forgetfulness an arduous, if not impossible, task.
References:
- Jolie, A. (Director). (2017). First They Killed My Father [Film]. Netflix; Média-Participations.
- Ung, L. (2000). First They They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. HarperCollins.