Movie Review: Killing Fields

The Killing Fields is a true story about a US reporter for the NYTimes and his translater reporting together in Cambodia. This is during the Vietnam War while Nixon was illegally bombing the neutral country of Cambodia. Amist the chaos in the country, the Khmer Rouge successfully takes control over Cambodia. Led by Pol Pot, the notorious Khmer Rouge radically destroyed the county with it's extreme communist law. It is now known as one of the biggest examples of genocide. Before gaining power, the Khmer Rouge were opposed by a US-Backed organization (any time there is a communist or socialist movement, you can be sure the US backs the opposition). Never the less, the Khmer Rouge ended up in control. The Khmer Rouge were so radically extreme that communist Vietnam largely opposed the regime. Eventually the Khmer Rouge was ousted by a Vietnamese puppet government. Here's what you probably don't know: The United States government, seeing the Viet-friendly government in control starting thinking "hey, these damn gook commies are in control of the country now turning it into a typical communist state, rather than a genocide destruction 'killing field'... now that we think about it, we'd rather have Pol Pot and his gang back in control". So the US government funneled money through Taiwon to help Pol Pot and the Rouge try and gain control of the bordering country again. The Khmer Rouge continued some terrorist acts from Taiwon, but not nearly with the destrution that they had done while in control. Eventually the Khmer Rouge was no more. Almost none of that is covered during the movie, but that is just to give you a history lesson of the country if you are unfamiliar with it. (The movie ends before the Khmer Rouge is ousted)
Back to the movie. The translater is stranded in the 'killing fields' because he is denied access into the French Embasy (which has become a protective base for reporters such as the one featured in the movie). The movie is about the translater's journey trying to escape the havok of the killing fields. He sees thousands of bodies and bones scattered in the fields and decides he doesn't want to add to the death count (1-2 million).