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.
If you liked this
Picked by director, genre, era and shared cast. Titles only, no spoilers.
- Fat Man and Little Boy 1989 · Roland Joffé · IMDb 6.5 · Same director
- Platoon 1986 · Oliver Stone · IMDb 8.0 · Viewers also liked
- Full Metal Jacket 1987 · Stanley Kubrick · IMDb 8.2 · Viewers also liked
- Apocalypse Now 1979 · Francis Ford Coppola · IMDb 8.4 · Viewers also liked
- Gandhi 1982 · Richard Attenborough · IMDb 8.0 · Same movement
- Born on the Fourth of July 1989 · Oliver Stone · IMDb 7.2 · Viewers also liked
Roland Joffé