Told from a little girl's perspective, the film is long, slow and lacking. The movie had some good acting and some touching and heart- wrenching scenes, but because it is all in the Khmer language (English subtitles) and told completely from a child's point of view, there just isn't enough historical info, which leads to some confusion as to who, what and why. You would definitely have questions if you aren't familiar with this civil war. You are able to get a taste of the confusion and horrible treatment that these Cambodian's went through, but because of the directing (everything portrayed through 7-year- old Luong's eyes, who doesn't really understand the full impact of everything going on, and because her father kept himself reserved and unemotional for the sake of the kids), the tragedy/suffering seemed a bit watered down... I don't know, it just seemed to be missing something in the translation. I think with better directing it could have been a better movie and more informative to this tragedy that killed millions of innocent Cambodians (estimated that a quarter of the Cambodian population was killed) We have had amazing, affecting films about the Holocaust and there have been several excellent films about the Rwanda genocide, but this piece of history on the loss Cambodia suffered hasn't been given its just due in the movie industry... but this movie is a start...I just wish it had been better. 6.5 starts In My Humble Opinion.
Review of First They Killed My Father
