A reporter from the New York Times and his translator try to deal with the chaos of United States military conflict in Vietnam and Cambodia. THE KILLING FIELDS wonderfully meshes the family affairs of the journalists with the politics and violence of war. The reporter (Sam Waterston from the television show Law & Order) and the translator are captured by the Khmer Rouge and the tension of facing death with such expediency is gripping and I think may capture the dark hole in the heart of the regime at that time. The translator is lost in the shuffle to get loved ones out of the country: it is kewl to see the camps he and other people are kept in as Cambodia attempts to reorganize their country, what is left is the taste of death, the bankruptcy of death in this case. The bite of conscience at the end is a lovely scoop of realism and it is a question I still ask myself. [4.2 stars]
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