The Killing Fields

Gabriell Needham, Making of the Modern World I found the film, “The Killing Fields”, very moving. There were countless scenes where my heart melted and I felt as if I could feel the pain of the innocent Cambodians in a minute sense. There is absolutely no way I could ever imagine what it was like to live though such a brutal and emotional part of history. The actors who portrayed individuals in the film seemed to be very connected and the relationship between Pran and Sydney was brilliantly

murdered between the years of 1975 and 1979 under the control of the Khmer Rouge. The government depopulated cities and forcibly relocated citizens to collective farms known as Killing Fields because of the unspeakable amount of deaths of all ages that occurred there. Approximately 14,000 lives were taken in these fields due to the stringent rules placed upon the citizens. The Khmer Rouge advocated for social equality and transformed Cambodia into a pre-industrialized nation centered around agriculture

spare you is no profit, to destroy you is no loss.” Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, once said this truly horrifying statement (Cambodian Genocide 1). It is no wonder that he went on to orchestrate the killings of more than two million innocent Cambodians. At the time of the mass killings in Cambodia, the Vietnam War was raging on. It is possible that the Vietnam War masked the true horrors of what was happening in Cambodia. The terrible events left emotional scars and traumatized countless people

stay neutral but eventually they joined the American’s side. Americans brought their troops into Cambodia in order to fight Vietnam. This caused major conflict and turned Cambodia into a warzone. As depicted in The Killing Fields and the articles we read for class, bombs were killing hundreds of Cambodian civilians. Their hospitals were overflowing with wounded and dying men, women, and children. Cambodians desperately wanted American troops to leave so they gathered around Pol Pot. Pol Pot was the

can be killed for having different ideals or being different. Knowing this, one could see that genocides only end with senseless and brutal discrimination and death. From 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge carried out a genocide in Cambodia killing all people who seemed to oppose them and their communist government (“The Cambodian Genocide”). Before genocide had a name, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish jurist was trying to get protection for oppressed minorities. When the Nazis invaded Poland

followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge committed crimes against humanity and killed over one million people. Pol Pot and the members of the Khmer Rouge who are responsible for over a million deaths in the Cambodian Killing Fields, and 20,000 mass graves, are being brought to justice 30 years later, but the families of those who suffered will never forget their cruel and unthinkable acts against humanity. Saloth Sar was born on May 19th, 1925. He is more famously known

different ideas or not being similar to to the opposing group. It is clear that genocides only end with senseless and brutal discrimination which results in many deaths. From 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge carried out a genocide in Cambodia killing all people who seemed to oppose them and their communist government (“The Cambodian Genocide”). Before genocide had a name, Raphael Lemkin,

assassination, many educated reverted to acting simple-minded to avoid their demise. Examples of that can be seen in both First They Killed My Father and The Killing Fields. In the former, Loung Ung’s father, Seng Im Ung, constantly had to remind his family not to mention anything about their previous life, and that included being educated. In The Killing Fields, when Pran was first brought into the work camps, he had to feign a lack of

no good would come of it. He is truly a man deserving of pity in his final days. My argument is backed mainly by the responsive essays of Dith Pran and Cardinal Franz König. In Pran’s essay, he relates to his own experiences in the Cambodian killing fields. He

War in the the mid to late 70’s was violent. Many of the targeted people were children. The children were forced into child labor camps and made into child soldiers. The controllers of the war had a specific outlook on they controlled the affected people. Their goal was to take over the country and make all of its inhabitants equal. Phnom Penh was overtook by the khmer rouge in 1975, forcing all of the people who lived in the city to evacuate. Loung Ung’s family was forced out of their second class