Disc Reviews

The Killing Fields: 30th Anniversary Edition – Blu-ray Review

3rd Nov 2014

Thirty years after Roland Joffé’s powerful drama hit theatres, wrenched hearts the world over, and won BAFTAs and Oscars aplenty; we have an all new Blu-ray edition from STUDIOCANAL on the way.

If you have never seen the movie (shame on you); here’s the run down on what it’s about.

Set during the Khmer Rouge genocide In Cambodia during the mid to late 1970s; it is primarily the story of Cambodian interpreter Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor), and his friend and employer, U.S. New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston). The drama centres on Pran’s survival and escape from the work camps, through the killing fields themselves, and to a lesser extent; Schanberg’s attempts stateside to locate him.

Pran’s tale is a harrowing one, and while the film resists the urge to portray the violence in the most graphic ways permissible (even under a 15 certificate); it is nonetheless am extremely powerful, moving and in places quite grizzly and heavy going viewing experience.

It is important to note that The Killing Fields isn’t a war film, and director Joffé put it best when he says:

“This is a story about friendship, it is not a story about war”

This is absolutely self evident, although there is by necessity a fair degree of war depiction (or at least the aftermath of the initial Khmer Rouge uprising), as well as some commentary and examination of the role the United States in general, and Nixon and Kissinger specifically played in exacerbating the situation is present within the narrative. The latter is sometimes subtle (in the form of audible radio broadcasts, or casual conversations between characters), but the film doesn’t shy away from pointing the finger where it’s due.

The power of the movie though, is really in the oscar winning performance of Ngor. As a survivor of the Khmer Rouge himself; his channelling of these personal experiences into this once in a lifetime performance is breathtaking to say the least, but not overblown, crass, or in any way sentimental or schmaltzy. Onscreen chemistry with Waterston is wonderful also, and the way in which their friendship is depicted is a beautiful thing, and definitely helps to make Pran’s ordeal, and the viewer’s journey along with him, something even more noble and (for want of a much better word), worth it. This is in the light of so much of the meat and potatoes of the narrative being during the 4 years or so that Pran and Schanberg are separated.

Having recently re-watched Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, and Warhorse for our retrospective podcast on the beard’s complete filmography; I can’t help but wonder how different this very human story would have been in his hands. I really don’t think Spielberg could have pulled off the subtlety and nuance on display here, and credit must go to Joffé and producer David Putnam for the deft touch maintained throughout.

Despite a 142 minute running time, the film is captivating and engrossing, and never treats the viewer as dumb. In fact, there is certain level of historical knowledge that, while not assumed by the filmmakers; is certainly handy to have, as the movie doesn’t pander to the ‘viewer as ignoramus’ syndrome so prevalent in the movies.

Also worth a quick mention are supporting performances from John Malkovich, and Julian Sands; both at the very beginning of their careers (Malkovich later appearing in the aforementioned Empire of the Sun). Small roles perhaps, but impactful and solid nonetheless.

The Disc:

The restoration and presentation of the film falls directly into the middle ground as defined many times by this author, and can be summed up as ‘Considering the age of the movie, and realistic restoration budget involved, the movie looks and sounds as good as it’s going to’. This is not to damn with faint praise either. We simply have to be realistic, and not expect every older movie that debuts on Blu-ray to be comparable to the bench mark big hitters like Jaws, and Alien. Picture quality is actually a healthy degree better than some of the titles that have come through Filmwerk Towers recently, and one is certainly never bristling for a clearer view. Audio is 5.1 DTS-HD Master, and is nicely immersive with good separation. My only tiny gripe (and I am aware of what a truly horrid, modern sensibility this statement comes from), is that the dynamic range is such that quiet bits are very quiet, and loud bits are very loud. This means that anyone without free reign to pump up the volume (so to speak), must ride the remote for fear of waking the kids.

Extras:

Bonus features here are unusual, but fascinating nonetheless. There is no documentary for example. Instead we get one on one interview with Lord Putnam, which is a substantial 48 minutes of honest and candid memoirs. I don’t think the interviewer (off camera), prepared or delivered the most scintillating questions for his subject, but thankfully Putnam is verbose and eloquent, and more than happy to expand on the flimsiest of his interviewers probings. The interview dates from 2005, so no doubt has turned up on previous DVD incarnations of the movie.

Next up are similar interviews with Joffé (42 minutes), and Robinson (21 minutes), both of which are new to this release. Like Putnam; both Joffé and Robinson are extremely interesting characters with a wonderfully open and engaging style.

Rounding out the good stuff is a feature commentary with Roland Joffé.

Does the bonus feature list miss the presence of a traditional documentary? In a way, I suppose it still does; but with the three interviews racking up a good hour and three quarters, it seems like it really shouldn’t.

The Soundtrack:

Standing unique as the only full motion picture soundtrack he has completed to date; Mike Oldfield’s score for The Killing Fields is an intriguing creation. Coming as it does, right around the same time as his studio albums Crises, and Discovery, there is a strong DNA link with these contemporary entries in his discography, at least to the Oldfield fan (possibly due to the use of the Fairlight CMI sampling synthesiser in composing the score). It’s not a wholly cohesive work, as the balancing act between orchestrated themes and the more programmed ‘electronic’ sounding portions don’t quite mesh together to this author’s ears. There are also passages not dissimilar to Basil Poledouris’ amazing Conan: The Barbarian score of a couple of years earlier. However, Pran’s Theme is as beautiful a piece of music as Oldfield has ever written, and is no doubt the foundation upon which the perennial question ‘Why has he never done another movie soundtrack?’ is based. Overall, despite these two sides rubbing together a little abrasively at times (no doubt intentionally on the part of Oldfield); the score has a lot of magic, beauty and power.

Conclusion:

Buy this Blu-ray, your movie collection will thank you for it.

Like the story of Cambodia itself; The Killing Fields has criminally been forgotten amongst the plethora of more popular ‘Vietnam’ themed films that both preceded it (Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter), and indeed those that followed (Platoon, and to a lesser extent Full Metal Jacket), and although people tend to remember it well, and think as highly of it as all the awards it won would indicate it should; for some reason it seems to have a low return rate. This is a purely subjective observation of course, and based at least in part on this author’s own equal degree of love and neglect of the movie over the years, as well as talking to others during the writing of this review. However, it would be a great if the release of this Blu-ray disc can not only find some new admirers for this truly amazing piece of British cinema; but also jolt all those folks that saw and loved the film back in the day, out of their collective stupors to go and buy it. It is an astounding piece of work.

On a personal level, this review represents the author’s 100th published review for Filmwerk, and it could not have been a more worthy title to reach that milestone with.