
The Missing Picture
2013, Documentary, 1h 30m
88 Reviews 5,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
Thrillingly unorthodox and emotionally searing without being didactic, The Missing Picture is a uniquely poignant documentary -- and so much more. Read critic reviews
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Critic Reviews for The Missing Picture
All Critics (88) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (87) | Rotten (1)
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Panh fulfills his debts to the dead not just by adding to the visual record of genocide, but also by creating a transcendent work of art.
January 5, 2015 | Rating: A+ | Full Review… -
These battered, scratched pieces of film are eloquent testimony for the terrible offences that happened.
January 5, 2015 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… -
Rithy Panh's cinema is an exemplary case of the imperative to bear witness.
April 15, 2014 | Full Review… -
Many films have examined from many vantages the Khmer Rouge's nightmare reign, notably Roland Joff's 1985 Oscar winner The Killing Fields.
April 4, 2014 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review… -
As haunting as it is haunted, "The Missing Picture" leaves viewers' heads rattling with ghosts.
April 3, 2014 | Rating: 4/4 | Full Review… -
A uniquely subjective account of the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, "The Missing Picture" is the work of Rithy Panh, a Cambodian native who left his homeland when he was an adolescent.
April 3, 2014 | Rating: 3/4
Audience Reviews for The Missing Picture
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Jun 23, 2015Rithy Panh uses archive footage, claymation, dioramas and a sublime sound design to make a devastating account of the nightmare that was his life as a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge regime, in order to recreate and expose that tragic missing piece in the history of his country.Carlos M Super Reviewer
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Feb 21, 2014Cambodia's foreign film entry "The Missing Picture" is a multi-media exploration of the Kampuchean Revolution in 1975, of which very few images remain. To counteract these "missing pictures", the filmmaker creates clay models of himself and many of the surrounding Cambodians to reenact the damage done by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The real marvel of the film is the inclusion of the archival footage that does remain from that time period and the haunting nature that is evoked from these images. A feeling similarly produced by that of the Holocaust imagery, these men, women, and children are ripped from their homes, forced to work the rice fields, carrying fertilizer barefoot on the hard ground, all while being given very little to eat and being left to sleep in the wilderness. The narrator is extremely articulate and carries you though the documentary with ease. One of the only things working against the film is the constant shuffle between the revolution and the time prior to the interment, leaving the viewer slightly confused as to what is happening when and how they got there. However, the haunting archival footage is worth seeing the film alone. Not a definitive history class topic, "The Missing Picture" covers a particular poignant historical tragedy that is not often spoken of but resonates as a topic that is just as impacting as any high profile history lesson.Christopher H Super Reviewer
The Missing Picture Quotes
Narration: | Silence is the loudest scream |
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