'The Killing Fields' tells a true-ish story of New York Times reporter Sidney 
Schanberg's experiences in 1970's Cambodia.  More specifically, this film 
focuses on the experiences of Sidney's interpreter and guide, Dith Pran, a 
Cambodian, fluent in English and French. 

In order to enjoy and be moved by this movie, the viewer ought to have a 
decent understanding of what exactly happened in Cambodia in the mid 1970's.  
I didn't.  Going into this, I knew the following: Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime 
executed a successful communist revolution.  The subsequent Cambodian 
communist government was particularly brutal, killing many of its citizens.  
'The Killing Fields' does an excellent job of adding strong moving visual 
imagery to an otherwise foggy subject. However, the story that's being told is 
somewhat discontinuous, confusing and poorly constructed.

The film is strongly dissected by The Khmer Rouge's capture of Phnom Penh, the 
capitol of Cambodia.  Before The Khmer Rouge's victory, the story focuses on 
Sidney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) and his journalistic quest for truth.  
Interestingly (or maybe I should say, inconsistently), the only story that we 
see Pran and Sidney work on together, outside of the Phnom Penh, investigates 
an errant bombing run by the US.  In a movie that ultimately centers around 
the terrors of the Khmer Rouge and their subsequent government, it would 
certainly be more appropriate to feature a story about the revolutionaries.  
As the viewer is introduced to the characters in the setting of a western 
error and cover up, I was expecting a story about the US influence on the 
Cambodian crisis.  Instead, the second half of the movie takes a drastic turn.  
After the successful siege of Phnom Penh, The Khmer Rouge kicked all 
foreigners out of Cambodia.  Sidney returns to New York.  Pran is abandoned in 
Cambodia where he lives an arduous existence picking rice and gathering clay 
for the communist regime.  The action of the film at this point shifts to Dith 
Pran's struggles in Cambodia.  Occasionally, scenes of Sidney in New York 
pining for word of Pran's survival are interspersed.  This second half of the 
film while visually stunning, slows to a near halt.  First of all, none of the 
Cambodian is subtitled.  While this was understandable in the first half, 
where Sidney spoke no Cambodian, and Pran served as his interpreter, in the 
second half this affect was simply frustrating.  There are some speeches by 
communist leaders that assuredly would have been moving and enticing.  
Unfortunately, I wouldn't know.  Occasionally, every five minutes or so, Pran 
delivers a voiceover.  This helps alleviate the frustration, but not enough.  

Basically, 'The Killing Fields' is as discombobulated a movie as this is a 
review.  Haing S. Ngor is brilliant as Dith Pran and makes the film watchable.  
Apart from that, scenes are often presented without explanation.  The music is 
aggravating.  Also, and possibly more damaging, I didn't know this was a true 
story until the film was over.  'The Killing Fields' is not as good as, it 
seems, everyone thinks.  I strongly recommend not watching this movie.  I was 
totally unimpressed.