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ABC News Classic News Cambodia: This Shattered Land
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List Price:
$29.95
Asia Trips Trips Price: $29.95
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: ABC News
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Binding: DVD
EAN: 0883629466859
Format: NTSC
Label: ABC News
Manufacturer: ABC News
Publisher: ABC News
Region Code: 0
Release Date: 2008-01-11
Studio: ABC News
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Editorial Reviews:
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From 1970-1975, there was constant warfare on Cambodian soil--Americans versus Vietnamese, then Cambodians versus Cambodians. What emerged from the chaos was a disciplined and determined communist force, the Khmer Rouge, one of the cruelest movements in history. Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge forced Cambodia into their image of an ideal communist society--an agrarian state where every aspect of everyone's life was controlled by the central organization. The country was turned into a vast labor camp. Families split up, monasteries closed, religion abolished, so were schools, books, money, and modern medicine. Doctors, former army officers, the educated, and government workers were systematically hunted down and executed. Almost 4 years later, the Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge, and what was left retreated to mountains of northwest Cambodia. ABC News went to Cambodia to explore the situation in Cambodia just after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, and spoke to Pol Pot who was in hiding at the time, in what was his only interview for American television. Correspondent: Jim Laurie Airdate: 3/29/1980 This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent documentary on post-revolutionary Kampuchea
Comment: This documentary is an excellent insight into the horrifying conditions facing the people of ( then ) Kampuchea in the years immediately after the liberation/invasion by Vietnam in 1979. The footage is fascinating and the interviews are sensitively conducted, whilst the doumentary pulls no punches in showing the effects of random bombing and shelling of people. The use of silence is effective in scenes showing a mother sobbing for her son, a child killed by the fighting between Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese forces; any comment would be useless. The documentary also has interviews with groups of Khmer still living under the KR; their restaint and silence whilst the interviewing process occurs speaks volumes. There is also an interview with Pol Pot, an invaluable source, as he was only on camera to the West a very brief amount of times- interestingly, his blame of the Youn, the Vietnamese, and their invasive desires towards Cambodia, is articulated here and then , nearly 20 years later, before his death when he was interviewed by journalist Nate Thayer, it was clear that his stance had not changed at all- he still blamed the Vietnamese and claimed that his sole purpose was to protect the Khmer from the Youn. Obviously Thayer's interview was 16 years away from this documentary but for historians, the footage contained in Thuis Shattered Land is a very useful link. It also clearly sets out the political background post 1979, and explains the tangled web of Russian-Vietnamese vs Khmer Rouge- Chinese alliances in the early 80s.I appreciated the way that the doco remained neutral and actually pointed out that despite negative connotations, the invasion by Vietnam had led to an attempt by the Vietnamese at famine relief and other types of basic aid, this from a country that was struggling with its own problems and the US embargo.
This is a sad and grim documentary but an excellent one as well. Compare this with John Pilger's Cambodia- Year Zero- also an outstanding source.
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