First They Killed My Father – Genocide as Seen by a Child

Family from First They Killed My Father

First They Killed My Father Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’re looking for an accessible account of the Cambodian Genocide, this film might be for you. First They Killed My Father depicts life under the horrific Khmer Rouge through the eyes of a 6 year old girl based on the book of the same name. Whilst it’s not as memorable as the book or other films on the subject, it’s the most accessible – it’s easy to watch and it’s on Netflix!

From: Cambodia, Asia
Watch: Trailer, Netflix
Next: Hotel Rwanda, Beasts of No Nation, The Missing Picture

Why Watch First They Killed My Father?

  • See the Cambodian genocide through the eyes of a 6 year old.
  • Blame the rise of the Khmer Rouge on U.S. foreign policy.
  • Learn that you can get through the worst times with family.
  • If you’ve read the book and want to see how the film stacks up.

The Breakdown

First They Killed My Father starts with a montage of archival footage which focuses on life in Cambodia. Everything looks normal – there’s people walking along city streets and a brief clip of the traditional Apsara dance. But normality is interrupted by Richard Nixon, with his promises of respecting Cambodia’s neutrality. These promises of peace quickly change to words of violence layered with footage of U.S. bombs exploding on Cambodian soil. It’s only after the U.S. bombs that the rise of the Khmer Rouge is mentioned – Director Jolie is quite clearly laying the blame for the Khmer Rouge genocide on her own country.

After the context establishing opening montage, the camera jumps straight into the perspective of Luoung, a 5 year old Cambodian girl living with her family in Phnom Penh. Through her eyes, we meet her large family, we go to her school, and experience a bit of life in Cambodia’s capital. There’s not much exposition at this point as we’re limited to her viewpoint. Everything we learn, we learn as she does. So when the Khmer Rouge marches into the city we are just as confused and surprised as her. We know that they are bad news, but we have to rely on the cues of her parents to understand the seriousness of the situation.

The Khmer Rouge force Luoung and her family (and the rest of the Phnom Penh’s inhabitants) to leave the city. They wander with thousands of other people along dirt roads, building temporary shelters along the way to sleep through the nights. No one knows where they are going, but they all are forced to keep moving towards a future of slave labour, starvation, and ruthless killings. This is the start of the Khmer Rouge and the genocide.

is the film Watered down?

First They Killed My Father is based on Luoung Ung’s account of her experiences as a child under the Khmer Rouge. But, even though the film largely follows Ung’s book, the book is much more memorable than the film.

This is partly because of the nature of the two mediums. The images from books exist in the reader’s imagination whereas the images from films are constructed for the viewer. Books also have more time for the reader to get to know the characters and environment. In Ung’s account, you are reading her remembering her life as a child. Translating this literally to the screen would end up in a simple ‘reconstruction’ film with narration over the top – which would go on for hours. Simply put, books lose a lot when they’re adapted to film.

But I can’t take all the blame away from the director as she ultimately made the choice to condense this book into a 2 hour movie. And books can be made into great movies – just see Lord of the Rings or view the list of Academy Award Nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay.

So why else isn’t the film as memorable as the book? For me, it’s because of two things:

  1. The film doesn’t take enough shortcuts.
  2. The violence and brutality is watered down.

1. The Film Doesn’t Take Enough Shortcuts

Film’s can’t be like books, so why try. In Ung’s book a lot happens after the Khmer Rouge seize power. There’s the long walk to her Uncle’s house, the months spent at a prison camp, the months Luoung spends on her own, and the months where the Vietnamese slowly take over. In each of these locations Ung describes a handful of strong memories. In the book, she has enough time to describe each memory by setting it up, describing the event, and telling us how she felt at the time and how it impacted on her life. Unfortunately in the film, Jolie ends up tokenizing these events by including them all. She doesn’t have enough time to give each of them the same emotional impact so their inclusion feels like a box ticking exercise. Instead, she should have taken some shortcuts and focused on a few memories instead of diluting all of them.

The same can be said of the characters – there’s too many! Whilst it is a bit insensitive to cut out 1, 2, or 3 of your siblings, it’s also very difficult to include all 7 and create an emotional bond between the audience and each of them without any backstory. The deaths and reunions would feel much more emotional if we could remember which brother/sister was which.

2. The Violence Is Watered Down

You don’t have to show violence for it to be shocking and you don’t need brutal gore for the violence to be memorable. However, in this film, the depiction of violence and brutality is inconsistent which dilutes it’s impact.

There are actually scenes of pretty strong gore, such as the battle scene between the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge. One of the Khmer Rouge soldiers is seen dragging his leg along which has been half blown off. It’s not something you’d usually see in a children’s film.

But whilst some extremely violent scenes stick out, they’re not consistent enough to be truly shocking. The most violent scenes are also as a result of war and landmines, and not directly by the Khmer Rouge. We never see a Khmer Rouge soldier brutally executing a former politician or intellectual. As a result, we never see the true brutality of the Khmer Rouge, only the violence of war and destruction of landmines.

What’s worse, is that the most memorable acts of violence are left out or censored. In the film, we never see Luoung being forced to the ground by a Vietnamese soldier that tries to rape her. We also never see Luoung watch with pleasure as the captured Khmer Rouge is brutally murdered by the mob (instead of forgiven by them as shown in the film). In the film, the people on both sides are portrayed as victims rather than people full of hatred and revenge. As a result, there’s not enough emotional impact as there are no villains.

What to Watch Next

If you want to watch more films about the Cambodian Genocide, I’d recommend starting with the S-21 and The Missing Picture, two documentaries from Rithy Panh which brutally remember the war.

Or if you want to watch more non-documentary films about genocides check out Hotel Rwanda and Son of Saul.

Or if you just want to experience another film about war/violence seen from a kid’s perspective, check out Beasts of No Nation, Empire of the Sun, and Fateless.

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