I am still trying to get over the movie. Wow, this has really got to my core. I cannot deny that I am a little misty eyed. On top of that I just read about what happened to Ngor, the actor who portrayed Dith Pran. If you don’t know what I mean, check it out on Wikipedia. I am sure it is covered there.
Synopsis: New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) is in the middle of Cambodia with his translator and fellow reporter Dith Pran (Dr. Haing S. Ngor) during the Vietnam War and at the beginning of the new regime in that country. They eventually become separated as all foreign nations pull out of Cambodia, leaving Schanberg desperately trying to find Pran, and Pran desperately trying to survive.
Directed by Roland Joffe
Screenplay by Bruce Robinson
Starring: Sam Waterston, Dr. Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich, Julian Sands, and very briefly Craig T. Nelson.
Both Ngor and Waterston did a spectacular job in this movie. Ngor definitely deserved every award he got for his performance, especially being that this was his first movie and from what I can tell, his first time acting. All the sets added an amazing feeling of realism, and everyone in their scenes played their parts well. There were no green screens; it must have been a real challenge for everyone on set. Hell, Spaulding Gray, who was essentially an extra in the movie, wrote a monologue about the production and the MONOLOGUE got made into a movie (Swimming to Cambodia). The movie had such a great way of catching me off guard, making me feel as the reporters and people of Cambodia did. There would be a peaceful scene with a normal conversation going on and then BOOM. It was really effective. The portrayals of violence and mayhem were all done with a lot of care. Although you knew people were getting shot, you saw it only once or twice. There was no need to see it every time to know how horrible it was, so I say that was a good call on the filmmaker’s part.
Now, this movie was made in 1984, so it has basically an 80’s soundtrack. For the most part this doesn’t bother me; the synthesizer was an excellent way of highlighting the insanity during some very crazy parts of the movie. For some reason though, there was a scene in Cambodia after Schanberg has returned to New York that has actual orchestrated music. I could hear real strings and such. Then it just went back to normal. Perhaps I didn’t hear that part right, perhaps there were more orchestrated parts, but it struck me as odd anyway.
It was an amazing movie. Very emotional. Very real.
John Malkovich in The Killing Fields:
Once again Malkovich has pulled off an excellent performance. I will say that he has a minor role, but he does appear on camera for about 20 minutes altogether. He plays a photographer who has a weary look about him, and a pissy attitude. There is an excellent tense scene where he is trying desperately to develop a photo. No, I’m not being sarcastic, it was intense. Unfortunately, I saw one of the problems I associate with him during the movie. He got angry about something that happened, cursed loudly, and then proceeded to speak in a normal calm manner. At least, that is the way the scene came off to me. Other than that, I thought he was pretty damn great. Any man who wears a sanitary napkin on his head gets a thumbs up (although this does happen in the movie, this is a joke; please do not reenact this scene). That is 2 for 2 on good performances so far. Perhaps he is so widely admired because he just happens to have been in some amazing movies? I guess I’ll have to see about that.
I just started school again, and I am already intimidating by the work load I have put up for myself. I have to say though, the challenge is pretty exciting too. The next John Malkovich movie I am going to watch is Making Mr. Right. I wanted to get the movie called Eleni, but apparently they did not make it on DVD in this country. If anyone knows where I can get a hold of a copy I would be indebted to you to let me know. Please send any comments, suggestions, questions, or recipes for delicious tomato bisque to JDTMovies@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.
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