The Killing Fields depict the tale of two journalists, American Sydney Schanberg and Cambodian Dith Pran who go through various experiences during the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia. The two undergo harrowing experiences including the witnessing of mass murder. Witnessing such horrific crimes could definitely have a huge psychological effect on anyone. The two characters however realize that they to adopt a self preservation method if they are to survive the emotional and psychological torment that witnessing such events come with. Pran for example when captured by the Khmer Rouge conceals his real identify including his education status and adopts an oblivious attitude to the ongoing around him which include mass murder.
The attitude of the Khmer rouge killers was an extremely hostile and mercilessness one. They had absolutely no regard for human life and did not hesitate put down they perceived to be a rebel, especially the upper class and educated citizens. It is due to this fact that Dith Pran was forced to conceal his education and social status when he was in the concentration camp to avoid being murdered at once.
In spite of the relative insensitive attitude adopted by the two characters, Sidney and Pran, the witnessing of mass death definitely had toil on them. They are later extremely haunted by the events they witnessed.
The film is a testament of the effects that mass murder and death can have on the society. The Cambodian society was never the same after the Khmer Rouge regime. Out of a country with 7 million people, 3 million were murdered during the Khmer Rouge regime. Mass murder such as the one depicted by The Killing Fields leads to a ruined nation, a lot of broken families and also raises the poverty level. The causes of evils such as mass murder are many and varied. Most of them can be attributed to greed for power , society’s group think and evolutionary forces that force ordinary men to think that killing their counterparts in mass numbers will inadvertently give them more power or even raise their status such that they can be able to enforce their values and beliefs on others.
Works Cited
The Killing Fields. Dir. R Joffe. Perf. Sam Watersson, Haing S. Ngor. 1984. Warner Bros., 1984. Film.
