Technically accomplished, but flawed in storytelling, Reivew on First They Killed My Father

First of all, I have to admit that the film succeeds in nearly every technical level, from production design, makeup, costume to cinematography, sound editing and music score. I particularly want to mention cinematography, which is intertwined with long shots and close- ups and includes even some aerial photography. Every scene looks real and believable. The film gives the audience an authentic experience of what was going on during the historical period.

Nevertheless, the technical achievement of the movie is not able to overshadow its poor storytelling. There is very little dialogue, the pace is extremely slow and many scenes are just repetitive. Most of the time, the audience just feel bored and do not understand why a certain event happens. Yes, the Khmer Rouge kill a lot of people, but why? The film does not provide an answer. Towards the end of the film, there is an impressive battle scene, and the audience do not even know who is fighting whom. Is it the civil war or the Vietnamese-Cambodian war? Nobody knows. The film simply lacks depth, which could have been easily improved with voice-overs or inter-titles.

In a nutshell, there are a lot of period drama, for example, "The Killing Field" and "Schindler's List", which are both deeply thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining. Unfortunately, this film is not one of them. Avoid watching it .

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