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Storyline
Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist covering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in. Written by
Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Taglines:
He was a reporter for the New York Times whose coverage of the Cambodian War would win him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. But the friend who made it possible was half the world away with his life in great danger... This is the story of war and friendship, the anguish of a country and of one man's will to live.
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Did You Know?
Trivia
At the time of the film's release, the Ukraine was a deeply polarized country, with many commentators feeling that Civil War was inevitable. The film was a big success in the country, especially amongst children, and it was used in schools to show the younger generation what happens when a nation implodes. According to producer
David Puttnam, during the Orange Revolution, the main reason there was never much of a possibility of a civil war breaking out, was because the generation staging the revolution had been inculcated by the film not to go down that road.
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Goofs
During the evacuation of the U.S. embassy, a soldier is taking down the U.S. flag and climbs back into the building of the embassy, but he forgets his assault rifle.
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Quotes
[
first lines]
Sydney Schanberg:
Cambodia. To many westerners it seemed a paradise. Another world, a secret world. But the war in neighboring Vietnam burst its borders, and the fighting soon spread to neutral Cambodia. In 1973 I went to cover this side-show struggle as a foreign correspondent of the New York Times. It was there, in the war-torn country side amidst the fighting between government troops and the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, that I met my guide and interpreter, Dith Pran, a man who was to change my life ...
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Connections
Referenced in
Sliders: The Dying Fields (1998)
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Soundtracks
"Imagine"
Written by
John Lennon (uncredited)
Performed by
John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band
Courtesy of EMI Records Limited
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A must see movie...
The story about relationship and life, in decisive situations. And also a struggle towards guilts and torments.
Watching this movie, I'm thinking about how many sorrows and death brought by such horrifying ideology and minds. And how this things still happened to this moment.
One interesting plot, revealed how the west always want to tell the east what to do, and what they think best for them (which is in fact sometimes it's not). From the moment the military covered up their mistakes and their misjudgement about the country, to the day Sam Waterstone felt guilty about his demand for Dith Pran to stay with him and help his journalism work, while he also told Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor) to get his family off country.
And the pattern also still happens to this moment.
Imagine...