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The Killing Fields

“Here, only the silent survive.”

1984 · 2 h 21 min
Directed by Roland Joffé

Cast

Sam Waterston Haing S. Ngor John Malkovich

Credits

Written by: Bruce Robinson

Plot

In 1973, Sydney Schanberg, a New York Times reporter, covers the war in Cambodia with his interpreter, Dith Pran. When the Khmer Rouge takes Phnom Penh, Schanberg cannot save Pran, who is forced to endure years in a labour camp. Roland Joffé's 1984 film, based on a true story, with Sam Waterston and Haing S. Ngor, who won an Oscar, is a harrowing record of the Cambodian genocide.

Sinekatalog’s take

Roland Joffé's drama follows a journalist and his Cambodian colleague during the Khmer Rouge takeover. Harrowing and humane, with Haing S. Ngor's Oscar-winning performance, it is about friendship amid atrocity.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.8 / 10 (64,447 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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