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Movies / On DVD / S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine

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S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (2004)

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97 %
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Reviews Counted: 30

Fresh: 29

Rotten:1

Average Rating: 7.7/10

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Education/General Interest

Theatrical Release:May 19, 2004 Limited

Synopsis: Attempting to make peace between Cambodian torture survivors and the Khmer Rouge soldiers who brutalized them, the documentary S21: THE KHMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE takes a close-up look at the the... Attempting to make peace between Cambodian torture survivors and the Khmer Rouge soldiers who brutalized them, the documentary S21: THE KHMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE takes a close-up look at the the prison camps where this disturbing chapter of history took place in the mid-1970s. Using firsthand accounts from both victims and soldiers, the film is set in the now-deserted S21 detention center. While the victims are barely able to speak about their experiences without being brought to tears, the soldiers seem to snap into a robotic and emotionless zone when re-enacting their daily duties (which included beating and murdering innocent people). Using photos of the nearly 17,000 people who were killed by the Khmer Rouge at S21 between '75 and '77, as well as documentation of the "confessions" of the victims, it becomes starkly clear that neither the victims nor the soldiers had any idea why this happened. The soldiers were given orders and they followed them. The victims were brutally tortured until they made up stories of treason and espionage. A shocking and revealing look at a terrifying event, director Rithy Panh--who endured four years in a Khmer Rouge labor camp--has made a starkly memorable statement with this grueling film. [More]

Director: Rithy Panh

Director: Rithy Panh
Producer: Caty Couteau
Studio: First Run Features

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Release:

May 24, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine

Offers one of the most powerful and unforgettable looks at evil.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
09/12/05
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

...a powerful film indeed.

Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
05/23/05
Scott Weinberg
DVDTalk.com

“S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” makes an articulate and cogent argument that should be seen and heard.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
10/07/04
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Panh ... simply lets his subjects tell the story, and the words create an unrelenting and often hard-to-take portrait of a national despair.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
08/11/04
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

A potent reminder that history is glutted with proof that trials, convictions and imprisonment for those accused of crimes against humanity offer no deterrent.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
08/08/04
Maria Garcia
Film Journal International

It's quietly effective and serves as stark reminder of the horrors that can result from blind obedience.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
08/06/04
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

It's not the kind of movie you would want to see more than once, but it opens your eyes to another period in history when man shows his capacity for inhumanity.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
07/16/04
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

A haunting look at the historical amnesia that envelops countries or regimes after officially sanctioned barbarism.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
07/15/04
Chris Vognar
Dallas Morning News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A necessary and haunting examination of how corrupt systems can create corrupt individuals to serve them.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
07/08/04
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

It is not a film—which unflinchingly captures a still festering wound on humanity—you are likely to forget.

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
06/18/04
Elias Savada
Nitrate Online

A modest but nonetheless devastating documentary.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/11/04
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Cinema at its most intellectually honest and morally necessary.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
06/11/04
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Devastating.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
06/05/04
V.A. Musetto
New York Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

oddly liquid

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
06/03/04
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

Moves very slowly and tends to be repetitive, but it has a simmering intensity beneath its deceptively placid surface...quietly devastating.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
05/21/04
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

At a moment when issues of torture loom so large in our world, S21 testifies to the chilling ease with which ordinary men can cross the line into homicidal sadism.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
05/20/04
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A history lesson both invaluable and horrific.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
05/20/04
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

...an imperfectly realized yet nevertheless important look at the depths to which humanity can sink all too easily.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/19/04
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com
 
 
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