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S-21, la machine de mort Khmère rouge (2003) More at IMDb Pro »

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Very Insightful Documentary, 14 April 2004
Author: gb_mpls from Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

Before my recent visit to Cambodia which included a short tour of S21, I did some reading on the prison and the complex events that led to its development and operation during the Democratic Kampuchea (Pol Pot) regime.

This movie did a remarkable job filling in my sense of S21 that was not otherwise possible to experience through reading or even touring the prison. For example, interviews with two of the only seven survivors out of over 14,000 prisoners detained and killed at S21 was remarkable by itself as was the opening sequence of a former guard discussing the morality of his role with parents who no doubt felt the full brunt of the Khmer Rouge's brutality, yet survived.

Seeing details such as the private cells, photography apparatus, the typewriters that clacked away to record prisoners' tortured confessions, and the former guards' convincing reenactment of their job as teenage guards at this grisly place was at the same time deeply disturbing and satisfying in improving my understanding of this total institution. The very instruments of dehumanization - ammunition buckets used for toilets, the bare tile floors prisoners were shackled to between interrogations and torture, the windows open to mosquitoes and vermin allowed to feast on the prisoners - are both stark and subtle in their presentation.

Those who expect anything more than a rudimentary understanding of this infamous killing machine may be disappointed. Seeing this movie was at least as valuable as seeing the prison in person. I especially recommend it for anyone who has visited S21 or expects to visit Cambodia.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Marvelous work achieved by Rithy Panh, 18 October 2004

Author: ubu-3 from Lausanne, Switzerland

This is a great movie about the Cambodian genocide. Refusing any sensational or sentimental approach, it is just made out of testimonies, and patiently, slowly tries to understand how such a thing could happen. The mechanics of the Khmer Rouge crimes, the paranoiac will to obtain (by torture) a "reason" (completely absurd) to kill their victims is terrifying. And testimony's of the torturers are striking of refusal. Patience, the intelligence and the firmness of one of the rare surviving victims give again fortunately confidence in humanity. This movie is made on a similar approach to Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah". Which means to place the testimonies in the center, and refusing any reconstitution or archive images. Maybe the only way to speak about such an event ?

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9 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
The Banality of Evil., 24 September 2006

Author: cobram-1 from United States

I have read the other comments on here and think that many people missed the point. This documentary illustrated the banality of evil very powerfully; it did not preach or try to shove the makers' opinion down the viewers' throat, like SO many other so-called documentaries do. This is not one of those "documentaries" which show edited footage and historical footage as a mere backdrop to put forth someone's opinion. That's what made it so powerful, to see the people who committed this incomprehensible evil and those that suffered it asking their own questions, trying to make sense of it all, trying to justify it, analyzing their roles in real time as the cameras roll. It was very evident that this was the first time many of them had questioned themselves on what they had done. The repetitive re-enactment and explanation of the guard's day to day activities were horrific in their normality. Even after all these years, after all that's happened, these men had no qualms about showing the world their routines, making it obvious that they don't equate their actions directly to the effects it had on their fellow country men and women. One has to remember that the guards were brain washed and indoctrinated by the communists at a very young age. This can be directly equated with what's happening in the world today with militant Islam. They're creating their own amoral killers and fanatics by indoctrinating and brain washing children. If nothing else, this documentary shows how once indoctrinated at a young age with fanatical ideology, all that remains for the rest of that persons life is an empty shell incapable of comprehending basic humanity.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting Documentary that Needed More Balance, 7 September 2003

Author: raging bull-1 from Hamilton, Ontario Canada

I saw this documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film offered powerful testimony from jailers that perpetrated torture and killings. As well, this film elicits the expected emotions from survivors. It was stunning to listen to members of the Khymer Rouge speak so candidly about their inhumanity and also portray themselves as victims that had been simultaneously coerced and indoctrinated into this movement. Very similar to ideas heard in Nazi Germany with the Holocaust and later at the Nuremberg trials. i.e. I was just following orders, I had no choice, or indoctrination similar to fascist propaganda. As powerful as this documentary was, I believe that the extensive testimonies that filled an entire film, limited the effectiveness of the genre. By filling the film with nothing but testimonies, the documentary became repetitive and detracted from the impact it could have had. Jailers acting out the daily routine of checking cells and the lengthy reading of forced admissions of guilt occasionally dulled the impact of other powerful testimony(Sometimes less is more). The director Rithy Panh searched for answers from the jailers, but the standard responses: "i was following orders" etc. would not suffice. He was looking for larger answers on the nature of humanity and what causes people to do such atrocities. The responses from the Khymer Rouge were unacceptable for Panh and he never got the answers that he seemed to need to start the healing process. I believe that more background into the history of Cambodia would have answered some of those questions. No one will ever adequately answer questions on the nature of humanity, but an investigation into the movement would have given many viewers insight into this horrific historical event. At the same time it would have made the testimony more powerful. The barrage of testimony almost made the atrocities seem common. The balancing of information and background with testimony, would have made this all the more powerful. Many people have a limited knowledge of events in Cambodia when compared to Nazi Germany or the Stalinist Purges and yet it is equally disturbing in both scope and sheer evil. I was hoping to be educated and informed whilst being numbed by the inhumanity. For the most part that did not happen. Nevertheless, the documentary is still well done. Much of the testimony is shocking, particularly the mass burials. A film that is well worth two hours of your life to watch, but not for the faint at heart.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Familiarize yourself with the Khmer Rouge before seeing this film, 27 February 2007

Author: freebird-64 from Philippines

I got to see this film at a special screening at the Alliance France in Manila, the French embassy's cultural center. Many of the small audience in the screening room (the copy screened was a DVD) did not bother to finish the film.

For myself, I found the film a flawed but powerful experience. One major flaw is, as other reviewers have pointed out, its cold opening. In other words, it assumes you already know what S-21 is and what the Khmer Rouge are. Without this valuable background information, which the documentary does not provide, the viewers may be lost at first.

It is also kind of dry, since the movie takes place only within the walls of S-21, involving only the few survivors of the prison and some of their former jailers. Essentially they spent the entire film talking. There is no attempt on the part of the director to make it more cinematic.

However, the patient viewer will soon find him or herself immersed in the horrors of the Khmer Rouge as detail after detail of the atrocities committed in the prison emerge. The handful of survivors go through mementos of the prison, including logbooks detailing the tortures committed against inmates, along with some of those who worked in the prison, including a guard and a doctor. The question the survivors constantly ask their former jailers is: How? How could you do these things? And they have no answers.

The most chilling scenes in the film involve a former prison guard recreating in an empty cell the routine he took with the prisoners, bringing them food, water or a container to pee in, threatening them with a beating if they don't go to sleep or cry too loudly. Its throughly disturbing to see, even if there are no actual prisoners there.

S-21 is not for everybody. But if you're already familiar with the Khmer Roune and this part of Cambodian history, the documentary may be worth watching to deepen your understanding of this dark period of history.

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5 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Could have been so much more, 5 July 2005

Author: Dantès

This film had so much potential, but just didn't get it done.

The first, really glaring problem is the opening that has a very incomplete and poorly-explained history of how the Khmer Rouge came to power. I found it confusing, and I know the history. They make the mistake of assuming people already know what happened there.

S21 has such a horrifying history, a place where humanity reached its nadir, but the film really just scratches the surface.

One angle that goes almost completely unexplored is the loss/lack of humanity on both sides. The destruction of the prisoners is well-covered, but the guards are given a mostly one-dimensional role, and their own situation is barely considered, aside from overly long reenactments of how they would conduct themselves toward the prisoners.

Vann Nath, one of the few survivors of S21, talks to the guards who are pretty close-mouthed and unwilling/unable to defend themselves. One should remember that they were largely 12 or 13 year-olds, selected at that age because they could be easily manipulated and indoctrinated, or they did what they did because they feared for their own lives. Seeing a survivor talk to the guards is very interesting, but they also needed someone neutral, as Vann has no patience for their explanations. Vann laments the loss of humanity of the prisoners, but does not consider that it existed on both sides.

Many of the things the guards did would be so anathema to human nature, be so morally repugnant, that I don't think (or like to believe) that most people would do them unless they fear for their lives, or could not really grasp what they were doing.

Granted, many Khmer Rouge knew exactly what was going on, and they condoned torture and murder. If one ever goes to S21 and sees the mug shots on the wall, with men, women, children, even infants looking back at you with heartbreaking fear and hopelessness, you cannot help but hate those who killed them. But, if this film also looked at those who did it and why, it would have been much more effective.

On the whole, it's a very disappointing experience. There's so much to talk about, and more horror than you can really wrap your mind around, but the film doesn't help you appreciate this.

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4 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Marginal Documentary, 24 September 2003

Author: Ryan (alisee@snet.net) from Connecticut

I saw this film on the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival. What starts out as an interesting and powerful documentary about the Khymer Rouge and the horrible events that unfolded in Cambodia quickly turns into a documentary of testimonials. The testimonials are initially powerful and moving, as both former prisoners and guards are able to confront each other about the events in the past. However, after the first few subjects give their stories, there is a sense of repetitiveness that echoes more and more with each following testimonial. It probably would have helped if there were some more historical information provided about Cambodia and how the Khymer Rouge came about. Overall, S21 covers an interesting subject, but it did not flow very well.

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3 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting Concept, but not a sufficient delivery, 20 July 2004
Author: Boddah_Buddah from Dallas, TX

The Khmer Roug massacres were vicious, to say the least. This documentary informs the audience of this and impresses upon them the torture that only few survived. Without having any knowledge of the history that led up to these events, I left the theater in the same state. I understood that a massacre had occurred, but the extent was not identified in any terms more than abstract death. The narration was slow and rather boring. I practically fell asleep three times during the showing because of the lack of information presented to me and the mediocre filming.

The film also lacked integration of background information regarding the history of the country and expected the viewer to have that knowledge before entering the theater. It was a compilation of two sides coming together to share their stories of pain. Truly, it was a horrible incident, but the continuing narration by the soldiers through every move they made when picking up and delivering a prisoner was rather unnecessary and added about twenty minutes of film that was not needed.

The two hours and eight dollars I spent on this film would have been better spent on a pony ride. I recommend picking up a book before going to this movie, that is if you choose to do so. Beware that going in without being informed about the Khmer Roug massacre will result in you leaving with the same amount of knowledge with the addition of numerous tragic stories to amplify your interest, but it delivers nothing of substance.

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3 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Slow and lacking, 21 September 2003

Author: Jose Guilherme from Brazil

I like documentaries, usually. I certainly thought this one lacking thou. First the narrative is slow. The purpose of the movie isnt clear cut. The only novelty is interviewing former guards and there "naivety".

Films have the resource of stimulating the visual not only the intelectual... this film/documentary barely stimulates us visually. A few shots of some paintings and the old buildings where the atrocities were commited only. Some shock value lacking.

I recomend it only for people who know nothing of the Khmer Rouge and their history. Its certainly worth to learn of what happens when governements get into a spiralling paranoia and how easily people can get to commit attrocieties and kill.

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