Remarkably it's been some time since Roland Joffe made his seminal picture (and sadly has never regained the form), but the years have not dulled its searing power. As much as Oliver Stone has cracked open the fetid shell of Vietnam, Joffe penetrates the horror of Cambodia, through the true relationship between American reporter Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston), and his Cambodian guide Dith Pran (the Oscar winning Haing S. Ngor).
Their personal endeavours to bring news of the wanton killing of Khmer Rouge to the world at large, are depicted with brilliant, mind-numbing clarity, by Joffe's roving camera. The scene were Pran, having escaped his evil captors, awakes in a field of rotting corpses sticks with you for life. A mighty accomplishment.
