Swimming to Cambodia (1987)

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writer:

Spalding Gray (writer)

Release Date:

April 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Spalding Gray tells about his participation in the film, "The Killing Fields" & the background story about the troubles of Cambodia.

Plot Keywords:

Cambodia | One Man Show | Vietnam War | Reference To Rousseau | Semi Autobiographical

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Spalding Gray	...	Himself
Sam Waterston	...	Additional cast from 'The Killing Fields' (archive footage)
Ira Wheeler	...	Additional cast from 'The Killing Fields' (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Cambodia (Australia)
Spalding Gray's Swimming to Cambodia (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (TVC)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

The Swimming Company

Quotes:

Spalding Gray: No one in America knew anything about Lon Nol - the press didn't know anything about Lon Nol except "Lon Nol" spelled backwards spelled "Lon Nol"!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Monster in a Box (1992)

Finally it's on DVD!

First let me tell you -- Spalding Gray was a man who could mesmerize, as his numerous one-man shows are evidence of. This is a "short movie" -- only about 90 minutes instead of a full 2 hours -- but it's positively compelling and makes you wonder why you didn't hear about it, why it didn't get that much publicity in your neck of the woods, etc. until you were lucky enough to stumble across it.

One thing I adore finding are movies that can be paired up as a double feature. An example would be Ed Wood's last film, Plan 9 from Outer Space, together with Tim Burton's homage work, Ed Wood. Watch them together and it's just great. I would also recommend watching The Killing Fields, in which Gray plays a minor role (as the U. S. Consul in Phnom Penh) and this movie, in which he talks about the making of said movie.

Remember that this is a topical movie because it was made in 1987. By that time the infamous "killing fields" were gone and Pol Pot's regime had been driven out of Cambodia by rebels supported by the Vietnamese. However, the Heng Samrin regime was far from democratic and for some strange reason the UN continued to recognize the Khmer Rouge regime -- the one led by Pol Pot -- as the legitimate government of Cambodia in one of history's craziest throws of the cosmic dice. It was not until the early 1990s that peace and democracy finally came to that troubled country.

For quite some years this movie was available only on VHS. I wondered when it would ever come out on DVD. Finally it's available on DVD so I say there's no excuse not to go out and get it.