First They Killed My Father

Jolie’s vivid genocide drama Dir: Angelina Jolie 2hrs 16mins (15)

Angelina Jolie’s fourth feature as a director is “by some measure” her best, said Geoffrey Macnab in The Independent. Based on the memoir of the same name by Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father is set in Cambodia in the 1970s, when the murderous Khmer Rouge seized power.

Acted entirely in Cambodian, this “vivid” genocide drama follows the misfortunes of the young Loung (Sareum Srey Moch) and her family as they are forced on a cross-country march that leads to labour camps and worse, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. Unfortunately, the passivity of our young protagonist results in the film “feeling more instructive than moving”. On the contrary, seeing things from the child’s point of view allows for a simple but penetrating satire about communist hypocrisy, said Kevin Maher in The Times. Loung is bemused, for example, to see soldiers shouting exuberantly about “the end of money” even as they stuff wads of cash into their pockets.

Perhaps only a director with Jolie’s clout as a Hollywood star could have got such a doggedly uncommercial project off the ground in the first place, said Caryn James on BBC News online. (The film was made for the streaming service Netflix, with a limited theatrical release.) Assuming that’s the case, it should be noted that this “vividly real” drama never feels preachy. “Jolie has put her stardom to stunning artistic use.”