Jolie unveils new film in Cambodia
Hollywood actress depicts horrors of communist regime
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA // Angelina Jolie unveiled her new film on the horrors of the Khmer Rouge era yesterday at the ancient Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
Cambodia’s king and survivors of the communist regime were among hundreds of people invited to the debut screening of First They Killed My Father, directed by Jolie and based on the memoirs of Loung Ung. Loung Ung was 5 years old when Khmer Rouge troops, led by Pol Pot, swept into Phnom Penh. Her family was sent to brutal labour camps before she eventually escaped to the United States.
In its quest for an agrarian Marxist utopia, the Khmer Rouge killed up to two million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979 through summary executions, starvation and overwork.
Veteran foreign correspondent Elizabeth Becker, one of a handful of western journalists to visit Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era, described the film as heart-rending.
Jolie said she hoped the film would remind people of the need to help children escaping war and persecution today.
“There are little Loungs all around the world today in many different countries, many different war zones where we have no access to them and we don’t know if they’re going to be all right,” she said.
Jolie’s new movie is her second on the subject of genocide – in 2011 she made a film about the Bosnian conflict featuring mostly local actors.
But her latest silver screen offering is more personal.
Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox, from an orphanage in Cambodia’s western Battambang province in 2002 and she has been given Cambodian citizenship. The Hollywood star previously said it was Maddox who pushed her to make the film.
In Siem Reap, Jolie described Cambodia as a second home, adding that she chose Loung Ung’s book because she wanted to tell the story of the Khmer Rouge era “through the eyes of a child”.
It also brought her closer to her son, she said.
“I wanted to focus not just on the war, but on the love of family and on the beauty of the country. In fact, I wanted to understand what my son’s birth parents may have gone through. And I wanted to know him better and I wanted to know this country better,” she said.
Jolie’s six children, three of whom are adopted, accompanied their mother for an audience with King Norodom Sihamoni before the premiere.
In a tribute to those who survived the brutal regime, Jolie pushed to ensure the film would be made by Cambodians and be accessible to them.
Almost the entire film is in the Khmer language, while the cast members and much of the crew were locals, including the two child protagonists.
The film is also co-produced by Rithy Panh, Cambodia’s most acclaimed filmmaker.
He lost almost all of his immediate family during the Khmer Rouge years but went on to produce searing documentaries that helped to break the silence surrounding the genocide. Loung Ung, who Jolie described as a “family friend”, said that while the film centred on her family’s experience, her story would be familiar to all Cambodians.
“I view it as the story of all of us,” she said.
Despite the prosecution of a few members of top Khmer Rouge cadres, the genocide continues to be a controversial subject. Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, a former regime cadre member before he defected, has run the impoverished country for more than 30 years and is opposed to any new prosecutions of regime leaders.
But his government has welcomed Jolie’s film so far.
The premiere will be followed by screenings across Cambodia, about seven months before the film is released to a global audience on Netflix.
Jolie’s arrival in Cambodia was a rare public appearance since her high-profile split last year from Brad Pitt.
‘ I wanted to understand what my son’s birth parents may have gone through and I wanted to know his country better Angelina Jolie Actress