First They Killed My Father

A film set during the Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia, told through a child's eyes. Loung is five, the daughter of a well-off family in Phnom Penh. In 1975 the city is emptied. The family is marched into the countryside. Her father is a former government official and has to hide it; if it comes out they will all be killed. What follows is labour camps, starvation, the family broken up, and Loung being trained as a child soldier. The formal decision is the point of view: the camera stays almost constantly at a child's height. Adult conversations are half heard, no political explanation is given, and the viewer understands what is happening in pieces, exactly as Loung does. The source is Loung Ung's own memoir; she wrote the screenplay with Angelina Jolie. The film was made entirely in Khmer and most of the cast are not professionals. It was shot in Cambodia. Angelina Jolie directed. It was shown directly on a streaming service and was Cambodia's entry for the foreign film Oscar. A strong work for anyone who likes historical drama and narratives built from a child's view. Before you watch, know this: the film shows starvation, death and child soldiering directly, and the pace is deliberately slow.