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The Killing Fields (1984)

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Top Critics

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 35
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

Average Rating: 5.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 21,276

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Movie Info

The Killing Fields is a romanticized adaptation of an eyewitness magazine story by New York Times correspondent Sidney Schanberg. Covering the U.S. pullout from Vietnam in 1975, Schanberg (Sam Waterston) relies on his Cambodian friend and translator Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor) for inside information. Schanberg has an opportunity to rescue Dith Pran when the U.S. army evacuates all Cambodian citizens; instead, the reporter coerces his friend to remain behind to continue sending him news flashes.

R, 2 hr. 23 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Roland Joff� , Craig T. Nelson

In Theaters: Nov 2, 1984 Wide

On DVD: Mar 13, 2001

Warner Home Video

The Killing Fields Trailer & Photos

Cast

Sam Waterston
Sydney Schanberg
Dr. Haing S. Ngor
Dith Pran
John Malkovich
Al Rockoff
Julian Sands
Jon Swain
Craig T. Nelson
Military Attache
Athol Fugard
Dr. Sundesval
Spalding Gray
United States consul
Bill Paterson
Dr. Macantire
Jay Barney
Schanberg's Father
Nell Campbell
Beth
Edward Entero Chey
Sarun
Katherine Kragum Chey
Ser Moeun
David Henry
France
Sayo Inaba
Mrs. Noaks
Graham Kennedy
Dougal
Mark Long
Noaks
Patrick Malahide
Morgan
Joanna Merlin
Schanberg's Sister
Oliver Pierpaoli
Titonel Pran's Son
Ira Wheeler
Ambassador Wade
Joan Harris
TV Interviewer
Monirak Sisowath
Phat KR Leader 2nd Vill...
Haing S. Ngor

Critic Reviews for The Killing Fields

All Critics (35) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (4) | DVD (9)

It must be nerve-racking for the producers to offer a tale so lacking in standard melodramatic satisfactions. But the result is worth it, for this is the clearest film statement yet on how the nature of heroism has changed in this totalitarian century.

August 25, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Richard Schickel

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

The screen is swamped by a bathetic, self-preening sententiousness.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comments (8)

Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

The intent and outward trappings are all impressively in place, but at its heart there's something missing.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

The best moments are the human ones, the conversations, the exchanges of trust, the waiting around, the sudden fear, the quick bursts of violence, the desperation.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

The movie is diffuse and wandering. It's someone telling a long, interesting story who can't get to the point.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

The director, Roland Joffe, and his photographer, Chris Menges, capture all of this with a realism that hasn't been so poetically convincing in a nondocumentary context since Gillo Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers.

January 1, 2000 Comment

John Hartl

Film.com

Top Critic

A gripping romanticized and somewhat fictionalized adaptation of an eyewitness magazine piece by New York Times journalist Sidney Schanberg.

June 7, 2011 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The movie is too conventional and fictionalized to qualify as a genuine political epic, but it's emotionally touching in describing the friendship between the NY Times reporter and his Cambodian translator.

March 12, 2011 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Se a primeira metade impressiona pelo virtuosismo t�cnico, a segunda fascina pela coragem em observar sem sensacionalismo a magn�fica for�a de vontade de um sobrevivente, beneficiando-se ainda da maravilhosa performance semi-auto-biogr�fica de Ngor.

April 15, 2009 Comment

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

First time feature director Roland Joffe shoots the drama with an unforced realism lent a terrible grace by the handsome images and smooth, unobtrusive long takes...

May 14, 2008 Full Review Source: Seanax.com

| Comment

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

Without doubt one of the finest British films of the last 50 years.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

A deeply moving film.

April 9, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

The film's overall thrust - angry, intelligent, compassionate -- makes this producer Puttnam's finest movie to date.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

A mighty accomplishment, and possibly the bravest Britflick yet made.

February 1, 2006 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Ian Nathan

Empire Magazine

Epic and heartrending.

September 24, 2005 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

| Comment

Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

One of the most potent politically-charged dramas ever made, managing to honor both the epic and the intimate aspects of its drama. One of the top films of the '80s.

March 22, 2005 Comment

Jay Antani

Los Angeles Alternative Source: Los Angeles Alternative

Powerful, unsettling, factual; Oscar caliber acting all around.

January 2, 2005 Comment

Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan Source: Kansas City Kansan

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Killing Fields

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The Killing Fields in the incredible true story of the atrocities committed by Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Brilliantly acted and directed The Killing Fields is a powerful film that touches on what is probably one of the greatest crimes of the 20th century along with the Holocaust. The Killing Fields is a stunning drama

August 4, 2011

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

The horrors of the Cambodian genocide became buried in the first hour and twenty minutes of background information on the conflict between a small group of journalists, eventually huddling in an American embassy, versus an emperging Khmer Rouge government hellbent on capturing photographer Dith Pran. Thought to be

August 8, 2010

Spencer S.

Super Reviewer

The Killing Fields Quotes

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1. Sydney Schanberg: Anyone who knows my work will know that half of this belongs to Dith Pran. Without Pran, I wouldn't have been able to file half the stories I did. It's nice to congratulate ourselves on occasions like this. But I can't stand here tonight... without thinking of those innocent people. Pran dedicated himself to helping me bring to the notice of the public.
– Submitted by Dennis L (4 months ago)