The Killing Fields

I meant to see this film for a long time but wasn’t sure I could muster the emotional reserves. After seeing Gray's picture, I was spurred into action. This picture is disturbing (though not as gory as I had been led to believe), but cumulatively did mot have as much impact as I might have expected. Certainly the production is flawless, and the acting (Sam Waterston as the reporter, and Dr. Negor (?) as his assistant) is exceptional, and certain segments pack quite a wallop (and seem to do a good job of recreating the utter terrified chaos that must have been there) but by focusing on the very personal story (which of course what is intended) the backdrop is left somewhat out of focus. As a story of personal perseverance. and triumph (Dith Pran's only, by the way) it is fine, but as the recotinting of the rape of a nation, it offers no insight. (Spalding Gray offered a much more telling perspevtive --total insanity--in his “Swimming to Cambodia.”) Still, it is worth seeing.