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1
00:01:28,210 --> 00:01:39,751
THE MISSING PICTURE
2
00:02:22,876 --> 00:02:25,835
In the middle of life
childhood returns.
3
00:02:26,751 --> 00:02:29,210
The water is sweet
and bitter.
4
00:02:30,543 --> 00:02:32,376
I seek my childhood
5
00:02:33,043 --> 00:02:34,460
like a lost picture
6
00:02:35,126 --> 00:02:37,210
or rather it seeks me.
7
00:02:38,751 --> 00:02:40,335
Is it because I am fifty?
8
00:02:41,376 --> 00:02:43,251
Because I've seen troubled times
9
00:02:43,626 --> 00:02:45,668
when fear alternates with hope?
10
00:02:47,085 --> 00:02:49,876
The memory is there now
11
00:02:50,460 --> 00:02:52,335
pounding at my temples.
12
00:02:52,876 --> 00:02:54,335
I'd like to be rid of it.
13
00:03:19,876 --> 00:03:21,251
With clay and water,
14
00:03:22,085 --> 00:03:23,085
with the dead,
15
00:03:23,168 --> 00:03:24,210
with rice fields,
16
00:03:24,710 --> 00:03:26,293
with living hands,
17
00:03:26,710 --> 00:03:27,710
a man is made.
18
00:03:28,376 --> 00:03:30,251
It doesn't take much.
19
00:03:31,126 --> 00:03:32,543
It just takes will.
20
00:04:00,668 --> 00:04:04,001
His suit is white, his tie is dark.
21
00:04:04,626 --> 00:04:06,876
I want to hold him close.
22
00:04:07,418 --> 00:04:08,710
He is my father.
23
00:04:17,335 --> 00:04:20,210
I remember the old days
in Phnom Penh,
24
00:04:20,668 --> 00:04:22,918
the great gatherings at our house.
25
00:04:24,001 --> 00:04:26,501
I remember laughter and singing,
26
00:04:27,210 --> 00:04:29,418
the smell of caramel,
27
00:04:30,043 --> 00:04:32,668
fish, spices and mango.
28
00:04:33,418 --> 00:04:34,835
We danced.
29
00:04:35,418 --> 00:04:38,043
We chatted with aunts and uncles.
30
00:04:38,793 --> 00:04:41,001
Cousins brought fruit,
31
00:04:41,085 --> 00:04:43,126
guavas and jackfruit.
32
00:05:24,293 --> 00:05:27,251
It was a time for studies and books.
33
00:05:28,168 --> 00:05:32,126
I loved to hear my father
read us poetry at night.
34
00:05:33,085 --> 00:05:35,251
I remember how sweet life was.
35
00:05:42,710 --> 00:05:44,668
Then came the war.
36
00:05:45,418 --> 00:05:48,876
The bombs drew near in the 1970s.
37
00:05:49,876 --> 00:05:52,043
I remember the first who died.
38
00:05:52,126 --> 00:05:53,668
Our fear.
39
00:05:53,751 --> 00:05:55,418
My sorrow as a child.
40
00:05:59,210 --> 00:06:03,251
So many pictures go by
again and again in the world.
41
00:06:03,335 --> 00:06:05,460
We think seeing them is owning them.
42
00:06:06,293 --> 00:06:08,376
When we discover a picture on a screen
43
00:06:09,043 --> 00:06:10,793
that is neither painting
44
00:06:10,876 --> 00:06:12,001
nor shroud
45
00:06:12,751 --> 00:06:14,293
then it is not missing.
46
00:06:19,501 --> 00:06:22,626
Phnom Penh was surrounded
by the Khmer Rouge
47
00:06:22,710 --> 00:06:26,293
who'd come to end
injustice and exploitation.
48
00:06:27,210 --> 00:06:31,501
They entered the capital
April 17, 1975.
49
00:06:32,335 --> 00:06:34,251
There were no cries of joy,
50
00:06:34,918 --> 00:06:36,710
only silent expectancy.
51
00:06:37,543 --> 00:06:38,918
I was there.
52
00:06:39,876 --> 00:06:42,585
I saw the look in the eyes
of the young soldiers,
53
00:06:43,168 --> 00:06:44,960
as if we had not been there.
54
00:06:46,293 --> 00:06:48,085
They had their orders:
55
00:06:48,918 --> 00:06:50,835
Never touch the enemy by hand.
56
00:06:52,043 --> 00:06:54,085
The enemy, that's me.
57
00:06:54,793 --> 00:06:56,085
I am thirteen.
58
00:06:59,501 --> 00:07:02,751
The central bank blows up
with all its money.
59
00:07:03,751 --> 00:07:05,543
There is no turning back.
60
00:07:07,501 --> 00:07:09,376
The city is impure.
61
00:07:09,876 --> 00:07:11,376
The city is corrupt.
62
00:07:12,543 --> 00:07:14,210
It is emptied within hours.
63
00:07:14,293 --> 00:07:17,710
Two million people
are thrown onto the roads.
64
00:07:18,168 --> 00:07:20,126
They leave behind their homes,
65
00:07:20,210 --> 00:07:21,418
their loved ones,
66
00:07:21,501 --> 00:07:23,335
their memories.
67
00:07:23,418 --> 00:07:25,043
In fact, the former world.
68
00:07:25,918 --> 00:07:28,293
"Long live the glorious April 17,
69
00:07:28,751 --> 00:07:30,710
a day overflowing with joy."
70
00:07:31,543 --> 00:07:35,793
The revolution is pure.
No room for humans.
71
00:07:36,835 --> 00:07:39,501
Now Phnom Penh can be filmed
72
00:07:40,168 --> 00:07:42,668
like in the prophecy of Puth Tumneay.
73
00:07:43,793 --> 00:07:47,376
"Houses with no occupants,
streets with no pedestrians,
74
00:07:47,918 --> 00:07:51,001
stairs no one will climb,
75
00:07:51,626 --> 00:07:53,585
flowing rivers of blood."
76
00:09:13,126 --> 00:09:16,543
Soon we were separated.
77
00:09:17,793 --> 00:09:20,960
We headed into the country
in the middle of dry season.
78
00:09:21,501 --> 00:09:23,668
We are hungry and thirsty.
79
00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:28,460
We go from hand to hand
like animals,
80
00:09:29,085 --> 00:09:30,585
in cattle cars,
81
00:09:31,335 --> 00:09:32,543
then wagons.
82
00:09:33,460 --> 00:09:37,626
Phnom Penh's deportation
is a missing picture.
83
00:09:48,293 --> 00:09:51,585
Immediately, the Khmer Rouge counted
84
00:09:52,293 --> 00:09:54,626
then separated women and men,
85
00:09:55,168 --> 00:09:57,251
adults and children.
86
00:09:58,293 --> 00:10:01,501
Souvenirs were forbidden,
all personal effects.
87
00:10:02,293 --> 00:10:04,710
Suddenly there are no more individuals,
88
00:10:05,335 --> 00:10:06,543
only numbers.
89
00:10:09,585 --> 00:10:11,335
They cut our hair.
90
00:10:12,293 --> 00:10:14,960
They take our watches, glasses,
91
00:10:15,418 --> 00:10:17,418
toys, books.
92
00:10:18,335 --> 00:10:20,710
They dye our clothes black.
93
00:10:21,293 --> 00:10:23,043
They change our names.
94
00:10:24,293 --> 00:10:26,251
We are the new people.
95
00:10:26,793 --> 00:10:30,418
Bourgeois, intellectuals, capitalists
96
00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:32,418
to be re-educated,
97
00:10:32,918 --> 00:10:34,210
to be destroyed.
98
00:10:37,876 --> 00:10:41,251
"You must embrace
the proletarian condition!"
99
00:10:43,085 --> 00:10:44,960
This is the new land
100
00:10:45,460 --> 00:10:47,793
that we call Democratic Kampuchea.
101
00:10:49,001 --> 00:10:51,085
A factory with unsettling smoke.
102
00:10:51,543 --> 00:10:53,626
Concrete dikes and rice fields.
103
00:10:54,418 --> 00:10:55,710
No people.
104
00:11:01,418 --> 00:11:06,085
All of society is organised
collectively and militarily
105
00:11:06,710 --> 00:11:08,460
in working units.
106
00:11:09,376 --> 00:11:11,793
"Angkar cares for all of you, comrades,
107
00:11:12,501 --> 00:11:15,293
brothers and sisters,
fathers and mothers!"
108
00:11:16,876 --> 00:11:19,043
The Angkar is the organisation.
109
00:11:19,710 --> 00:11:22,335
It is all. It is each.
110
00:11:23,001 --> 00:11:24,626
The young Khmer Rouge,
111
00:11:25,085 --> 00:11:26,501
the village chief,
112
00:11:27,210 --> 00:11:29,793
the torture supervisor,
113
00:11:30,418 --> 00:11:31,835
and Pol Pot.
114
00:11:33,126 --> 00:11:35,376
They surveil this barefoot people
115
00:11:35,835 --> 00:11:37,668
of sand and dust.
116
00:11:51,376 --> 00:11:53,793
Soon there will be no more faces,
117
00:11:54,585 --> 00:11:55,835
no more friends,
118
00:11:55,918 --> 00:11:57,626
no more love,
119
00:11:57,710 --> 00:11:59,293
no more father and mother.
120
00:12:00,085 --> 00:12:02,460
Soon there will be no more emotion
121
00:12:03,251 --> 00:12:05,376
and even words will be transformed.
122
00:12:06,710 --> 00:12:09,918
Each being will be a revolutionary
123
00:12:10,626 --> 00:12:12,460
or fertiliser for rice.
124
00:12:25,210 --> 00:12:26,543
To hang on,
125
00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:30,376
you must hide within yourself
a strength, a memory,
126
00:12:31,126 --> 00:12:33,460
an idea that no one can take from you.
127
00:12:34,251 --> 00:12:37,460
For if a picture can be stolen,
a thought cannot
128
00:13:07,376 --> 00:13:09,960
"The Angkar requests you attend
129
00:13:10,043 --> 00:13:13,043
a study session
to reconstruct yourself.
130
00:13:14,501 --> 00:13:15,626
Comrades,
131
00:13:16,293 --> 00:13:18,793
soon we'll be masters of the water,
132
00:13:18,876 --> 00:13:21,043
of the earth and elements,
133
00:13:21,126 --> 00:13:24,001
every hectare yielding 3 tons of rice.
134
00:13:24,085 --> 00:13:26,251
Or five. Or seven.
135
00:13:27,376 --> 00:13:29,251
Then we will be ten million.
136
00:13:30,126 --> 00:13:32,335
There will be no more hunger,
137
00:13:32,418 --> 00:13:34,960
no more fatigue,
no more injustice.
138
00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,043
The elderly will be fed by machines.
139
00:13:40,418 --> 00:13:43,668
The Angkar is perceptive
and full of solutions.
140
00:13:45,335 --> 00:13:48,293
The people are the brain of Angkar.
141
00:13:52,126 --> 00:13:56,668
Long live the extraordinary
grandiose Kampuchean Revolution!
142
00:13:57,251 --> 00:14:00,668
Long life to a new society
free of rich and poor!"
143
00:14:02,418 --> 00:14:03,960
We raise our fists.
144
00:14:04,626 --> 00:14:06,210
We repeat slogans.
145
00:14:07,501 --> 00:14:11,043
The Angkar will establish
a model society,
146
00:14:11,126 --> 00:14:12,793
unique in the world,
147
00:14:12,876 --> 00:14:14,626
without class division.
148
00:14:50,751 --> 00:14:53,001
In this perfect world,
149
00:14:53,085 --> 00:14:55,168
the dams are made of concrete.
150
00:14:55,251 --> 00:14:57,585
The embankments are paved.
151
00:14:57,668 --> 00:14:59,335
There is order in everything.
152
00:15:00,043 --> 00:15:01,835
Flying over this utopia
153
00:15:01,918 --> 00:15:03,335
is a red flag
154
00:15:04,126 --> 00:15:06,418
and of course this truth:
155
00:15:07,085 --> 00:15:09,543
"Comrade, you are so very free!"
156
00:15:11,043 --> 00:15:13,835
For now, you must obey,
157
00:15:14,335 --> 00:15:16,168
dig ceaselessly,
158
00:15:16,251 --> 00:15:18,251
move earth,
159
00:15:18,335 --> 00:15:19,668
move rock.
160
00:15:24,043 --> 00:15:25,501
For months
161
00:15:25,585 --> 00:15:28,835
I dug a pond on arid plains.
162
00:15:29,543 --> 00:15:31,418
I never saw water.
163
00:15:31,501 --> 00:15:32,960
Not once.
164
00:15:33,043 --> 00:15:35,251
"Long live Democratic Kampuchea!
165
00:15:35,751 --> 00:15:38,376
A prodigious leap forward!
166
00:15:38,460 --> 00:15:40,460
A marvellous leap forward!
167
00:15:40,543 --> 00:15:43,960
An extraordinary
grandiose leap forward!
168
00:15:44,460 --> 00:15:49,376
Work in the rice fields!
Don't count on the heavens!"
169
00:15:53,835 --> 00:15:56,043
These slogans have never left me.
170
00:15:57,085 --> 00:15:58,876
Sometimes I still hear them.
171
00:17:21,501 --> 00:17:24,460
Former society thought only of feasting.
172
00:17:25,293 --> 00:17:28,543
Collectivism is the fertiliser
and the fodder.
173
00:17:29,376 --> 00:17:33,210
From now on,
a saucepan is individualistic.
174
00:17:33,751 --> 00:17:36,210
It is forbidden to own one.
175
00:17:38,168 --> 00:17:40,335
So, we share everything.
176
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:43,543
Our only belonging is our spoon.
177
00:18:30,876 --> 00:18:33,793
With hunger, you get a man.
178
00:18:34,460 --> 00:18:35,918
You get them all.
179
00:18:37,001 --> 00:18:38,460
Living or dead.
180
00:18:40,126 --> 00:18:41,210
As for the sick,
181
00:18:41,626 --> 00:18:43,710
or those who do not obey,
182
00:18:43,918 --> 00:18:45,543
they are not fed,
183
00:18:45,751 --> 00:18:47,626
or only get half rations.
184
00:18:50,293 --> 00:18:52,460
Hunger, it's for us.
185
00:18:54,001 --> 00:18:56,335
Hunger, it's a weapon.
186
00:18:57,001 --> 00:18:59,751
"The new people are a parasitic plant."
187
00:19:15,418 --> 00:19:17,918
The ancient people, who watch us,
188
00:19:18,001 --> 00:19:19,626
live in the granaries.
189
00:19:20,210 --> 00:19:21,668
They are never hungry.
190
00:19:22,210 --> 00:19:25,335
To re-educate is to destroy.
191
00:19:27,793 --> 00:19:31,460
In Phnom Penh,
there was a people to wipe out.
192
00:19:32,168 --> 00:19:36,793
Conquest through emptiness
is a picture glaring with simplicity.
193
00:19:38,043 --> 00:19:40,585
The Khmer Rouge want a man of metal,
194
00:19:41,168 --> 00:19:43,710
a pure instrument of revolution.
195
00:19:44,460 --> 00:19:46,460
Khmer Rouge leaders
196
00:19:47,043 --> 00:19:49,585
are "the universal homogenous state."
197
00:19:50,460 --> 00:19:52,251
They never look at each other.
198
00:19:52,335 --> 00:19:56,585
There is of course Pol Pot,
Brother no. 1,
199
00:19:56,668 --> 00:19:58,668
whom we recognise by his fan.
200
00:19:59,835 --> 00:20:01,501
And then his comrades:
201
00:20:01,585 --> 00:20:03,335
Nuon Chea,
202
00:20:03,418 --> 00:20:05,043
Ieng Sary,
203
00:20:05,126 --> 00:20:06,876
Khieu Samphan,
204
00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:07,960
Son Sen.
205
00:20:59,418 --> 00:21:02,126
"Rise damned of the Earth!"
206
00:21:03,460 --> 00:21:05,168
The damned, that's us.
207
00:21:05,751 --> 00:21:08,168
We who work the fields, in chains,
208
00:21:08,835 --> 00:21:11,210
wandering like ghosts.
209
00:21:13,210 --> 00:21:15,626
In this capital, four years empty,
210
00:21:16,376 --> 00:21:18,293
remains the Central Committee
211
00:21:19,001 --> 00:21:20,960
and Ponear Yat High School
212
00:21:21,460 --> 00:21:23,585
which becomes Centre S21.
213
00:21:26,085 --> 00:21:28,585
Here they whip,
214
00:21:28,668 --> 00:21:30,251
they electrocute,
215
00:21:30,335 --> 00:21:32,085
they cut,
216
00:21:32,835 --> 00:21:34,710
they force feed excrement,
217
00:21:35,126 --> 00:21:36,960
they get confessions.
218
00:21:37,876 --> 00:21:41,835
It all starts with purity
and ends with hate.
219
00:21:56,501 --> 00:22:00,460
I know the Khmer Rouge
photographed executions.
220
00:22:01,501 --> 00:22:02,585
Why?
221
00:22:03,168 --> 00:22:04,293
For proof?
222
00:22:04,751 --> 00:22:06,668
To complete a report?
223
00:22:07,751 --> 00:22:11,876
What man having shot this scene
wouldn't want it missing?
224
00:22:13,501 --> 00:22:15,543
I look for this picture.
225
00:22:16,251 --> 00:22:18,126
If I ever find it
226
00:22:18,501 --> 00:22:21,251
I could not show it, of course.
227
00:22:22,251 --> 00:22:25,335
What would the picture
of a dead man reveal?
228
00:22:26,543 --> 00:22:29,043
I prefer this anonymous young woman
229
00:22:29,543 --> 00:22:31,710
who defies the camera
230
00:22:31,793 --> 00:22:33,501
and the eye of her torturer,
231
00:22:34,043 --> 00:22:35,626
staring at us still.
232
00:22:45,793 --> 00:22:47,293
Scarlet blood
233
00:22:47,376 --> 00:22:51,668
covering Kampuchean cities
and plains, our fatherland,
234
00:22:51,751 --> 00:22:54,668
sublime blood of workers and peasants,
235
00:22:55,501 --> 00:22:58,418
sublime blood of men and women,
236
00:22:58,501 --> 00:23:00,543
revolutionary fighters,
237
00:23:01,251 --> 00:23:05,168
blood turned to implacable hatred
and resolved fighting,
238
00:23:05,751 --> 00:23:08,085
you freed us from slavery.
239
00:23:10,585 --> 00:23:14,376
Yet, one does not film with impunity.
240
00:23:15,668 --> 00:23:18,168
I see these child labourers,
241
00:23:18,251 --> 00:23:20,876
their hands, their faces,
242
00:23:22,001 --> 00:23:23,710
their weary bodies.
243
00:23:24,293 --> 00:23:28,293
This young avant-garde
works toward its own destruction.
244
00:24:02,626 --> 00:24:06,501
At night, I told stories from before
245
00:24:07,543 --> 00:24:08,960
of ghosts,
246
00:24:09,043 --> 00:24:10,210
witches,
247
00:24:11,001 --> 00:24:12,960
lost travellers,
248
00:24:13,043 --> 00:24:14,585
and mischievous children.
249
00:24:15,251 --> 00:24:19,126
So they put me in the kitchen
where we ate well.
250
00:24:19,751 --> 00:24:22,043
I told the story of the Apollo rocket
251
00:24:22,168 --> 00:24:23,918
racing for the moon
252
00:24:24,001 --> 00:24:27,168
to these revolutionaries
who spoke in code.
253
00:24:28,335 --> 00:24:31,751
Scarlet blood that covers
cities and plains,
254
00:24:32,251 --> 00:24:34,626
will you cover the moon too?
255
00:25:34,626 --> 00:25:38,001
I dreamt of walking on it
like Neil Armstrong,
256
00:25:38,418 --> 00:25:40,751
light-footed, childlike.
257
00:25:41,710 --> 00:25:43,543
"One small step for man,
258
00:25:44,210 --> 00:25:46,460
one giant leap for mankind."
259
00:26:16,251 --> 00:26:19,376
"But who are they?" asks a comrade.
260
00:26:20,085 --> 00:26:21,793
These people on the moon?
261
00:26:22,418 --> 00:26:25,710
They are Americans.
I saw the pictures back then.
262
00:26:26,543 --> 00:26:27,918
"Americans?
263
00:26:28,001 --> 00:26:29,210
You're lying.
264
00:26:29,293 --> 00:26:30,751
That's impossible."
265
00:26:32,251 --> 00:26:34,126
The storyteller confesses.
266
00:26:34,210 --> 00:26:35,960
The storyteller is killed.
267
00:26:36,585 --> 00:26:40,793
The great leap for mankind
lies not in capitalist propaganda.
268
00:26:41,251 --> 00:26:42,710
It is here
269
00:26:42,793 --> 00:26:44,460
for we who are hungry.
270
00:26:46,543 --> 00:26:49,626
"Long live the independent masterful way
271
00:26:49,710 --> 00:26:52,460
of Democratic Kampuchea's Angkar.
272
00:26:53,793 --> 00:26:56,668
Long live
its extraordinary clairvoyance."
273
00:26:58,543 --> 00:27:00,793
On our moon, there is nothing.
274
00:27:01,460 --> 00:27:05,126
Parched earth and dust
bury everything.
275
00:27:06,043 --> 00:27:09,126
It took me years
to learn to walk upon it,
276
00:27:09,210 --> 00:27:11,251
bare feet on thorns.
277
00:27:46,376 --> 00:27:48,710
Muddy water trickles down my throat.
278
00:27:49,710 --> 00:27:51,751
Little by little I disappear.
279
00:27:51,835 --> 00:27:53,501
I'm nothing any more.
280
00:27:54,751 --> 00:27:57,335
It is strange to drink mud.
281
00:27:58,085 --> 00:28:00,168
The buffalo watch us.
282
00:28:01,043 --> 00:28:04,168
"What odd humans to drink our water."
283
00:28:09,085 --> 00:28:13,085
A Nestle tin becomes
our unit of measure.
284
00:28:13,793 --> 00:28:16,126
It contains 250 grams of rice.
285
00:28:16,626 --> 00:28:18,793
Very soon, famine strikes.
286
00:28:18,876 --> 00:28:22,043
These 250 grams, we share them daily.
287
00:28:22,501 --> 00:28:23,918
Seven of us.
288
00:28:24,001 --> 00:28:25,460
Then sixteen.
289
00:28:25,543 --> 00:28:27,376
Then twenty-five.
290
00:28:27,460 --> 00:28:29,168
We share hunger.
291
00:29:20,210 --> 00:29:22,001
Mother fights for us.
292
00:29:22,501 --> 00:29:27,251
She builds a hut of branches,
leaves and vines.
293
00:29:28,251 --> 00:29:30,251
Each day she walks two hours
294
00:29:30,335 --> 00:29:32,876
so we may drink clean water.
295
00:29:34,126 --> 00:29:37,335
She gets a half ration
approved for father.
296
00:29:38,460 --> 00:29:40,460
But one night he tells us:
297
00:29:41,126 --> 00:29:43,626
"I will no longer eat animal food.
298
00:29:44,335 --> 00:29:46,835
No. I am a man."
299
00:29:48,085 --> 00:29:50,335
And he stops eating.
300
00:29:52,835 --> 00:29:56,126
I don't understand. I resent him.
301
00:30:32,835 --> 00:30:35,085
They found some sheet metal
302
00:30:35,210 --> 00:30:37,710
to carry his body to the pit grave.
303
00:30:38,335 --> 00:30:40,418
My mother shed not a tear.
304
00:30:40,585 --> 00:30:42,960
Not before the Khmer Rouge.
305
00:30:52,585 --> 00:30:53,835
That night
306
00:30:54,418 --> 00:30:58,001
she tells me how my father
should have been buried
307
00:30:58,876 --> 00:31:00,626
by his teacher friends
308
00:31:01,001 --> 00:31:03,710
traditionally and peacefully.
309
00:31:05,001 --> 00:31:06,835
This funeral in words,
310
00:31:07,168 --> 00:31:09,001
I don't want to forget.
311
00:31:09,335 --> 00:31:11,626
It was an act of resistance.
312
00:32:15,460 --> 00:32:18,001
My father came from a poor family.
313
00:32:18,418 --> 00:32:20,168
He believed in schools.
314
00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,001
He dreamt of sending
his sisters and brothers,
315
00:32:24,168 --> 00:32:27,001
his children and ancestors,
316
00:32:27,085 --> 00:32:29,751
that we should be a free people.
317
00:32:30,585 --> 00:32:32,835
He didn't abandon us.
318
00:32:32,918 --> 00:32:35,251
He was teaching us free will.
319
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,251
I still feel his soul went home
320
00:32:42,001 --> 00:32:44,710
where he can at last recite in peace
321
00:32:44,793 --> 00:32:47,251
his favourite poem by Prévert:
322
00:32:47,876 --> 00:32:49,543
"Black hair
323
00:32:50,126 --> 00:32:52,918
Black hair, caressed by waves
324
00:32:53,793 --> 00:32:55,293
Black hair
325
00:32:55,835 --> 00:32:58,460
Black hair tussled by winds."
326
00:33:02,126 --> 00:33:06,460
Here, schools become
extermination centres.
327
00:33:07,210 --> 00:33:08,251
Here,
328
00:33:08,710 --> 00:33:10,710
pigs become readers,
329
00:33:10,793 --> 00:33:12,960
since readers were pigs.
330
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:18,751
Here, every soldier
has a pen in his pocket,
331
00:33:19,460 --> 00:33:21,793
sometimes a watch on his wrist.
332
00:33:23,043 --> 00:33:24,918
For us it is forbidden.
333
00:33:25,335 --> 00:33:27,001
But it is a sign.
334
00:33:27,085 --> 00:33:30,751
A distinction in a land
that hates knowledge.
335
00:33:34,751 --> 00:33:37,710
"The spade is your pen,
336
00:33:37,793 --> 00:33:40,335
the rice field your paper."
337
00:33:52,835 --> 00:33:56,543
"Here is the school
of applied electricity
338
00:33:56,626 --> 00:33:59,043
intended to train technicians.
339
00:34:00,085 --> 00:34:04,168
The students must be
children of poor peasants,
340
00:34:04,251 --> 00:34:06,335
or the lower middle class,
341
00:34:06,418 --> 00:34:10,751
or girls and boys
from the revolutionary army.
342
00:34:12,460 --> 00:34:14,668
Comrade Thaon is 16 years old.
343
00:34:15,543 --> 00:34:18,501
At 9 he joined the Revolution
344
00:34:18,585 --> 00:34:20,960
and the revolutionary army.
345
00:34:21,668 --> 00:34:24,126
He fought many battles.
346
00:34:24,876 --> 00:34:26,710
He was also wounded.
347
00:34:30,126 --> 00:34:32,918
There are many children like him
348
00:34:33,001 --> 00:34:35,210
at the front and behind it.
349
00:34:35,293 --> 00:34:36,960
They are countless.
350
00:34:38,043 --> 00:34:40,501
They all have exceptional biographies.
351
00:34:41,168 --> 00:34:46,460
Today they work
with all their might and heart
352
00:34:46,543 --> 00:34:48,460
within their units
353
00:34:48,543 --> 00:34:50,793
to defend and rebuild the country."
354
00:35:04,126 --> 00:35:07,418
I spent my own childhood
in film studios
355
00:35:07,501 --> 00:35:09,668
with a director neighbour.
356
00:35:10,668 --> 00:35:13,960
I loved the wonderful wigs and costumes,
357
00:35:14,043 --> 00:35:16,126
the colours and gold,
358
00:35:16,793 --> 00:35:19,376
the land of giants and fairytales.
359
00:35:20,418 --> 00:35:22,335
I loved it backstage
360
00:35:22,418 --> 00:35:25,210
where beautiful actresses
seemed to dance for me.
361
00:37:41,168 --> 00:37:43,543
I collected film scraps
362
00:37:43,626 --> 00:37:47,210
that I watched using a box
and a small light.
363
00:37:49,751 --> 00:37:51,835
Then that world was destroyed.
364
00:37:52,501 --> 00:37:54,418
The cinemas were closed.
365
00:37:54,501 --> 00:37:56,376
The artists were executed.
366
00:37:57,043 --> 00:38:00,543
The singers, technicians and directors
367
00:38:00,626 --> 00:38:02,168
were sent to the fields.
368
00:38:12,585 --> 00:38:16,043
A Khmer Rouge film
is always a slogan.
369
00:38:16,876 --> 00:38:19,543
"Practice is worth all theories
370
00:38:19,626 --> 00:38:22,001
so no personal ideas!
371
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,835
He who is ill with former society,
372
00:38:25,918 --> 00:38:28,210
let him take Lenin for a pill!"
373
00:38:30,335 --> 00:38:32,960
From now on there is but one actor.
374
00:38:33,585 --> 00:38:36,251
It is not the people, but Pol Pot.
375
00:38:37,501 --> 00:38:41,918
He is the Revolution.
His myth must be forged.
376
00:38:52,918 --> 00:38:56,376
A hut is built in the jungle as a set.
377
00:38:56,918 --> 00:39:01,001
Pol Pot is a revolutionary.
He drinks only tea,
378
00:39:01,710 --> 00:39:03,960
uses an oil lamp,
379
00:39:04,543 --> 00:39:06,126
washes outdoors,
380
00:39:06,626 --> 00:39:09,043
lives with his country, his books,
381
00:39:09,543 --> 00:39:12,335
his gun, his comrades.
382
00:39:13,168 --> 00:39:15,085
He lives the ideology.
383
00:39:32,543 --> 00:39:36,793
Brother no. 1
was inspired by young humanity.
384
00:39:36,876 --> 00:39:39,043
The original people.
385
00:39:39,751 --> 00:39:41,001
The Jarai,
386
00:39:41,543 --> 00:39:42,418
the Kuoy,
387
00:39:42,918 --> 00:39:44,501
the Bunong,
388
00:39:44,585 --> 00:39:48,918
a handful of families
who shared everything in common.
389
00:39:49,876 --> 00:39:52,418
By observing them, he understood.
390
00:39:53,043 --> 00:39:55,793
Like Rousseau's noble savage.
391
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:58,001
Already in Paris,
392
00:39:58,543 --> 00:40:02,043
Pol Pot signed his articles
"Original Khmer".
393
00:40:03,210 --> 00:40:06,585
The Khmer Rouge,
it's Marx and Rousseau,
394
00:40:07,835 --> 00:40:11,835
integral communism
and the pure, original world,
395
00:40:12,876 --> 00:40:14,710
a perfect society.
396
00:40:23,501 --> 00:40:27,126
"The radiant revolution
shines in all its glory!"
397
00:40:28,293 --> 00:40:31,918
These peasants, scorned, abandoned,
398
00:40:32,001 --> 00:40:34,710
adhere to the fight for justice.
399
00:40:35,751 --> 00:40:39,918
They'd look good
on the new country's banknotes
400
00:40:41,335 --> 00:40:44,001
which will never be used.
401
00:40:45,585 --> 00:40:48,793
"There is no more selling,
no more trade,
402
00:40:48,876 --> 00:40:52,168
no more complaints,
no theft, no pillaging,
403
00:40:52,876 --> 00:40:55,376
no more private property!"
404
00:40:56,168 --> 00:40:57,751
There are no more problems.
405
00:41:03,668 --> 00:41:07,210
The new people are re-educated
in the rice fields.
406
00:41:07,293 --> 00:41:10,085
Plunged into the original world
407
00:41:10,168 --> 00:41:12,335
that they be purified.
408
00:41:13,168 --> 00:41:14,585
They must be forged.
409
00:41:14,668 --> 00:41:18,293
Return to the old ways
or be destroyed.
410
00:41:19,585 --> 00:41:21,335
Pol Pot says:
411
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,085
"Those we cannot re-educate,
412
00:41:24,168 --> 00:41:26,501
we will fight like enemies."
413
00:42:59,793 --> 00:43:02,960
"The Angkar never uses any object
414
00:43:03,043 --> 00:43:06,335
from imperialist or feudal society."
415
00:43:17,876 --> 00:43:21,001
Capitalist automobiles
confess their crimes.
416
00:43:21,085 --> 00:43:23,835
They too are re-educated.
417
00:43:25,168 --> 00:43:28,960
These cars work to edify
the new country.
418
00:43:34,918 --> 00:43:38,918
Evenings, after the worksite,
are for indoctrination.
419
00:43:40,251 --> 00:43:42,043
Words change meaning.
420
00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:44,960
We speak in slogans.
421
00:43:45,793 --> 00:43:49,210
"The comrade with many faults
is the enemy!
422
00:43:50,085 --> 00:43:52,460
Whoever protests is an enemy!
423
00:43:53,043 --> 00:43:55,460
Whoever opposes is a corpse!"
424
00:44:01,001 --> 00:44:05,085
A 9-year old denounces his mother
for picking mangoes.
425
00:44:05,835 --> 00:44:07,210
The child shouts:
426
00:44:07,876 --> 00:44:10,293
"The comrade recognises her crime!"
427
00:44:11,460 --> 00:44:13,751
His mother weeps softly.
428
00:44:13,835 --> 00:44:15,085
To confess,
429
00:44:15,501 --> 00:44:17,543
is to accept to die
430
00:44:17,626 --> 00:44:19,835
for the Revolution to be just.
431
00:44:20,876 --> 00:44:23,918
When humans will be free
and equal to this degree,
432
00:44:24,001 --> 00:44:26,168
will they still be human?
433
00:44:28,876 --> 00:44:30,793
The mother closes her eyes.
434
00:44:31,668 --> 00:44:34,293
Is it to picture her child?
435
00:44:35,001 --> 00:44:36,335
She says nothing.
436
00:44:43,918 --> 00:44:47,293
Then she is taken into the forest
by guards
437
00:44:47,835 --> 00:44:49,501
and never returns.
438
00:45:31,168 --> 00:45:34,460
I want to escape the mud, the hunger,
439
00:45:35,043 --> 00:45:36,918
my black clothes.
440
00:45:37,835 --> 00:45:39,918
Walking in water is torture.
441
00:45:41,210 --> 00:45:43,168
I collapse from exhaustion.
442
00:46:15,126 --> 00:46:18,210
Sometimes an airplane crosses the sky.
443
00:46:18,918 --> 00:46:20,835
Is it observing us?
444
00:46:21,668 --> 00:46:24,251
Will it parachute a camera to me?
445
00:46:24,335 --> 00:46:26,335
So the world knows at last?
446
00:46:27,335 --> 00:46:29,501
The missing picture: that's us.
447
00:46:30,460 --> 00:46:32,585
This unreal airplane saves me.
448
00:46:33,585 --> 00:46:36,668
I have no more name, no more family,
449
00:46:37,085 --> 00:46:40,376
no more hope,
but I still have a human heart.
450
00:46:42,918 --> 00:46:44,543
I think of the old days.
451
00:46:44,626 --> 00:46:47,126
My brother disappeared in Phnom Penh,
452
00:46:47,210 --> 00:46:49,501
April 17, 1975.
453
00:46:50,251 --> 00:46:51,918
With his guitar,
454
00:46:52,001 --> 00:46:54,543
the Khmer Rouge
must not have liked him.
455
00:46:54,626 --> 00:46:56,085
Not his smile,
456
00:46:56,585 --> 00:46:58,501
not his teenager's bangs,
457
00:46:58,585 --> 00:46:59,918
not his songs.
458
00:47:51,626 --> 00:47:53,418
Colour has vanished
459
00:47:54,001 --> 00:47:57,043
like laughter, song and dance.
460
00:47:58,043 --> 00:48:00,918
Our daily life is a combat,
461
00:48:01,001 --> 00:48:03,251
a war against nature,
462
00:48:03,501 --> 00:48:04,835
against words,
463
00:48:05,043 --> 00:48:06,543
against the enemy.
464
00:48:07,835 --> 00:48:11,626
"The children sent to the front
are small
465
00:48:11,835 --> 00:48:14,751
but full of energy
to fulfil their duty!"
466
00:48:16,626 --> 00:48:18,460
And me, I kept repeating:
467
00:48:19,043 --> 00:48:21,501
"The Angkar never makes mistakes.
468
00:48:21,585 --> 00:48:23,501
The Angkar is everything."
469
00:48:35,585 --> 00:48:39,043
I don't wish anyone to see a child die.
470
00:48:39,835 --> 00:48:41,460
Feet swollen.
471
00:48:41,876 --> 00:48:43,585
Face swollen.
472
00:48:44,085 --> 00:48:46,210
As if water is all that's left.
473
00:49:20,001 --> 00:49:22,710
The little girl is shaky with hunger,
474
00:49:22,793 --> 00:49:24,710
so she steals corn.
475
00:49:24,793 --> 00:49:26,751
The leader catches her,
476
00:49:26,835 --> 00:49:28,751
and brings her back to us.
477
00:49:28,835 --> 00:49:30,335
It's a crime.
478
00:49:31,085 --> 00:49:34,043
The grandmother forbids her
to eat the corn.
479
00:49:34,751 --> 00:49:37,460
"We don't steal. We are proud."
480
00:49:38,418 --> 00:49:40,168
The little girl cries.
481
00:49:40,251 --> 00:49:42,251
And me, I don't get it.
482
00:49:49,835 --> 00:49:53,460
During the night,
the child chews salt.
483
00:49:53,543 --> 00:49:54,960
Her teeth crunch.
484
00:49:55,668 --> 00:49:58,085
Hunger strikes at night.
485
00:50:08,168 --> 00:50:10,168
She sleeps next to me,
486
00:50:10,251 --> 00:50:13,501
her belly swollen, her eyes blank.
487
00:50:13,585 --> 00:50:15,043
She sighs.
488
00:50:15,585 --> 00:50:17,210
She calls her mother.
489
00:50:17,293 --> 00:50:19,126
She calls her father.
490
00:50:19,543 --> 00:50:21,210
Then she calls no more,
491
00:50:21,710 --> 00:50:23,460
and we buried her.
492
00:50:25,335 --> 00:50:28,210
The other two children die too.
493
00:50:29,293 --> 00:50:33,460
I wish to be rid of this picture
of hunger and suffering.
494
00:50:34,501 --> 00:50:36,418
So I show it to you.
495
00:51:48,168 --> 00:51:50,793
The mother is taken to the hospital
496
00:51:51,835 --> 00:51:55,043
where she learns
her daughter of 16 has died.
497
00:51:56,251 --> 00:51:59,126
Here, everyone dies.
498
00:52:00,835 --> 00:52:03,501
Without a word she strokes her forehead.
499
00:52:04,251 --> 00:52:07,460
She picks lice
from the beautiful gaunt face.
500
00:52:08,460 --> 00:52:12,585
Then she too lies down
on the wooden planks.
501
00:52:57,585 --> 00:52:59,335
Fishing is forbidden.
502
00:52:59,418 --> 00:53:02,668
Yet fish abound by the hundreds.
503
00:53:03,418 --> 00:53:05,626
In hiding I catch one.
504
00:53:06,501 --> 00:53:09,793
Two days later I take it to my mother,
505
00:53:10,585 --> 00:53:12,710
but she has already died.
506
00:53:13,585 --> 00:53:17,001
So, I understood I would be alone.
507
00:53:19,835 --> 00:53:21,876
I pictured our house again,
508
00:53:22,335 --> 00:53:24,126
our kitchen,
509
00:53:24,210 --> 00:53:25,710
the garden,
510
00:53:25,793 --> 00:53:27,251
the notebooks,
511
00:53:27,335 --> 00:53:29,085
my parents' faces.
512
00:53:29,460 --> 00:53:31,918
These pictures are not missing.
513
00:53:32,001 --> 00:53:33,585
They are inside me.
514
00:53:56,168 --> 00:54:01,626
"We are determined to fulfil
our 1977 political duty
515
00:54:01,710 --> 00:54:04,793
with an extraordinary
great leap forward."
516
00:54:06,460 --> 00:54:10,460
I have become one of these children
at the worksites.
517
00:54:11,751 --> 00:54:14,126
Looking closer at this movement,
518
00:54:14,210 --> 00:54:15,960
one sees the fatigue,
519
00:54:16,043 --> 00:54:17,335
the falls,
520
00:54:17,418 --> 00:54:19,376
the gaunt faces.
521
00:54:19,460 --> 00:54:21,418
One sees the cruelty.
522
00:54:22,918 --> 00:54:25,418
One sees that some can no longer work.
523
00:54:26,460 --> 00:54:29,085
Yet, there is a camera.
524
00:54:32,751 --> 00:54:34,668
Here is the teacher.
525
00:54:35,376 --> 00:54:37,335
That's what we call her.
526
00:54:37,835 --> 00:54:40,335
She teaches us the spade and shovel
527
00:54:41,043 --> 00:54:42,335
and ideology.
528
00:54:46,293 --> 00:54:49,168
"Let us live in perfect equality."
529
00:54:50,335 --> 00:54:52,210
The children revolt.
530
00:54:53,418 --> 00:54:54,626
Of course
531
00:54:56,210 --> 00:54:58,251
"Each must count on no one else!"
532
00:55:00,085 --> 00:55:02,668
But the cadres eat better than us.
533
00:55:03,710 --> 00:55:05,251
They never go hungry.
534
00:55:06,835 --> 00:55:08,751
Where is the equality?
535
00:55:08,835 --> 00:55:11,918
So our leaders do their self-criticism.
536
00:55:14,335 --> 00:55:18,418
My friends and I
are sent to a very tough camp
537
00:55:18,501 --> 00:55:19,918
the very next day.
538
00:56:02,251 --> 00:56:03,960
At this worksite,
539
00:56:04,293 --> 00:56:07,626
we must dig 3 cubic metres of dirt
in the morning
540
00:56:08,210 --> 00:56:12,376
and make 25 to 30 kilos of fertiliser
in the afternoon
541
00:56:12,460 --> 00:56:15,335
from leaves and cow manure.
542
00:56:17,335 --> 00:56:19,501
But there are so few cows,
543
00:56:19,585 --> 00:56:21,460
trees and leaves
544
00:56:21,543 --> 00:56:23,835
that these quotas are unattainable.
545
00:56:25,543 --> 00:56:28,626
If we don't manage
to extract 3 cubic metres,
546
00:56:29,085 --> 00:56:31,751
they are raised to 5 cubic metres.
547
00:56:36,793 --> 00:56:37,793
"Work eagerly!
548
00:56:37,876 --> 00:56:40,376
No defeatism before the enemy!
549
00:56:41,126 --> 00:56:44,585
You must love and respect
the collectivity!"
550
00:56:45,793 --> 00:56:49,918
This camp was a tomb
guarded by a man in a felt hat.
551
00:56:50,793 --> 00:56:53,835
His dog watched us inquisitively.
552
00:56:54,668 --> 00:56:57,835
This man beat those
who didn't follow his rules.
553
00:56:58,710 --> 00:57:01,793
We were forbidden
to dig for roots to eat,
554
00:57:02,376 --> 00:57:04,168
and forbidden to speak.
555
00:57:22,335 --> 00:57:26,001
He ate alone
and had his own food.
556
00:57:26,626 --> 00:57:27,960
So did his dog.
557
00:57:36,376 --> 00:57:38,793
We shared our children's rations.
558
00:57:40,418 --> 00:57:42,335
Those in Paris or elsewhere
559
00:57:42,418 --> 00:57:44,168
who loved our slogans,
560
00:57:44,251 --> 00:57:46,126
who read books,
561
00:57:46,210 --> 00:57:48,043
did they see these pictures?
562
00:57:48,543 --> 00:57:50,335
Or were they missing?
563
00:58:22,876 --> 00:58:24,793
I return to the past.
564
00:58:25,501 --> 00:58:27,501
To all those who died.
565
00:58:28,668 --> 00:58:30,210
My sisters,
566
00:58:30,293 --> 00:58:31,710
my brothers,
567
00:58:31,793 --> 00:58:33,626
my cousins,
568
00:58:33,710 --> 00:58:35,168
my parents.
569
00:58:36,168 --> 00:58:38,460
Childhood is both far and near
570
00:58:39,126 --> 00:58:40,626
with its gentleness,
571
00:58:41,126 --> 00:58:42,793
its joyful cries,
572
00:58:42,876 --> 00:58:44,251
its laughter,
573
00:58:44,335 --> 00:58:45,543
its voices.
574
00:58:46,501 --> 00:58:48,668
Childhood is a refrain.
575
01:00:15,626 --> 01:00:20,501
I haven't been home
since April 17, 1975.
576
01:00:21,668 --> 01:00:24,210
Yet I remember every detail,
577
01:00:24,668 --> 01:00:25,710
the paintings,
578
01:00:26,585 --> 01:00:27,543
the doors,
579
01:00:28,043 --> 01:00:29,210
the jugs,
580
01:00:29,668 --> 01:00:31,126
the hallways.
581
01:00:32,168 --> 01:00:34,501
My house became a gambling dive,
582
01:00:34,585 --> 01:00:36,043
a karaoke,
583
01:00:36,585 --> 01:00:38,043
then a brothel.
584
01:00:38,960 --> 01:00:41,168
It too was voided,
585
01:00:41,918 --> 01:00:43,626
torn from its history.
586
01:00:44,918 --> 01:00:46,668
There is no truth.
587
01:00:47,251 --> 01:00:48,793
There is only cinema.
588
01:00:48,876 --> 01:00:51,085
The revolution is cinema.
589
01:02:23,418 --> 01:02:27,210
I remember the great flood in 1978.
590
01:02:28,126 --> 01:02:30,251
I was already at a labour camp
591
01:02:30,918 --> 01:02:32,835
and we were so hungry.
592
01:02:33,793 --> 01:02:35,918
A huge bale of rice straw
593
01:02:36,501 --> 01:02:39,168
washed up on the riverbank.
594
01:02:39,751 --> 01:02:41,918
We even found eggs.
595
01:02:42,001 --> 01:02:44,293
So we ate.
596
01:03:25,001 --> 01:03:28,543
With film too,
the harvests are glorious.
597
01:03:29,293 --> 01:03:30,668
There is grain.
598
01:03:31,335 --> 01:03:34,043
There are the calm, determined faces.
599
01:03:34,668 --> 01:03:36,126
Like a painting.
600
01:03:36,668 --> 01:03:37,876
A poem.
601
01:03:39,001 --> 01:03:42,501
At last I see the Revolution
they so promised us.
602
01:03:43,168 --> 01:03:45,168
It exists only on film.
603
01:04:22,751 --> 01:04:24,793
This rice was not for us.
604
01:04:25,835 --> 01:04:28,085
Was it reserved for our leaders?
605
01:04:28,751 --> 01:04:32,668
Or shipped abroad,
since marked in Arabic numerals?
606
01:04:34,043 --> 01:04:36,918
Or were these sacks film props?
607
01:04:37,001 --> 01:04:38,585
Full of sand?
608
01:04:40,626 --> 01:04:42,960
Our every move was scrutinised,
609
01:04:43,835 --> 01:04:45,918
our every breath,
610
01:04:46,626 --> 01:04:48,585
even our silence.
611
01:04:49,835 --> 01:04:53,543
But the great famine escaped
the Khmer Rouge leaders.
612
01:04:54,501 --> 01:04:55,876
Did they not know?
613
01:04:55,960 --> 01:04:57,626
Did they not see?
614
01:04:57,710 --> 01:04:59,335
Could they not act?
615
01:05:00,043 --> 01:05:02,835
Does the truth lie
in glorious slogans?
616
01:05:03,585 --> 01:05:06,626
Or in these pictures,
which are not missing?
617
01:05:24,710 --> 01:05:26,710
This is what Pol Pot has to say:
618
01:05:26,793 --> 01:05:31,918
"Currently our cooperatives
are well-established units
619
01:05:32,001 --> 01:05:33,043
politically
620
01:05:33,126 --> 01:05:34,918
and in spirit
621
01:05:35,001 --> 01:05:38,126
capable of accomplishing
all the Angkar's directives.
622
01:05:39,418 --> 01:05:41,168
Throughout the land,
623
01:05:41,251 --> 01:05:44,793
they have fulfilled
their revolutionary duties.
624
01:05:45,835 --> 01:05:49,751
They have transformed
the sad, dry regions of former times,
625
01:05:49,835 --> 01:05:52,543
poor and without drinking water.
626
01:05:53,751 --> 01:05:57,126
Now there are ponds
great and small,
627
01:05:57,210 --> 01:05:59,335
canals interconnecting,
628
01:05:59,418 --> 01:06:01,793
green rice fields and orchards.
629
01:06:02,543 --> 01:06:05,668
These cooperatives
are founding a new society
630
01:06:05,751 --> 01:06:08,918
purged of corruption
and rogues of all sorts.
631
01:06:09,710 --> 01:06:13,335
They are founding a new society
632
01:06:13,418 --> 01:06:16,001
that is collectivist, uncorrupt,
633
01:06:16,085 --> 01:06:18,626
equal, prosperous.
634
01:06:19,668 --> 01:06:22,918
These cooperatives
live a perfect existence
635
01:06:23,001 --> 01:06:24,543
in terms of food,
636
01:06:24,626 --> 01:06:27,251
health, sanitation,
637
01:06:27,335 --> 01:06:30,001
culture, studies,
638
01:06:30,085 --> 01:06:31,501
and education."
639
01:06:35,043 --> 01:06:37,168
The reality is this:
640
01:06:38,001 --> 01:06:39,668
straw huts,
641
01:06:39,751 --> 01:06:41,293
drought,
642
01:06:41,376 --> 01:06:42,876
exhaustion,
643
01:06:42,960 --> 01:06:44,126
hunger,
644
01:06:44,626 --> 01:06:47,085
neon lights to work by night,
645
01:06:48,001 --> 01:06:50,501
speakers blaring slogans,
646
01:06:52,210 --> 01:06:55,043
ideology rampant in the fields.
647
01:07:12,585 --> 01:07:16,210
The one who shot this footage,
slow and true,
648
01:07:16,293 --> 01:07:18,126
was named Ang Sarun,
649
01:07:19,626 --> 01:07:21,585
a Khmer Rouge cameraman,
650
01:07:22,501 --> 01:07:25,710
to whom we also owe
this speech by Pol Pot.
651
01:07:26,793 --> 01:07:28,501
Why this haze?
652
01:07:29,001 --> 01:07:30,293
A technical mistake?
653
01:07:31,085 --> 01:07:34,043
Or did he mean to show
the children in rags?
654
01:07:34,126 --> 01:07:37,210
To show Brother no. 1
the true state of the nation?
655
01:07:39,501 --> 01:07:41,001
The cameraman is tortured
656
01:07:41,501 --> 01:07:43,085
then executed.
657
01:07:43,626 --> 01:07:45,710
His body disappears.
658
01:07:45,793 --> 01:07:47,751
His story disappears.
659
01:07:48,376 --> 01:07:50,126
But not this film.
660
01:07:52,668 --> 01:07:55,543
"Let us brandish ever higher
661
01:07:55,626 --> 01:07:57,918
the red standard of the revolution!"
662
01:07:58,710 --> 01:08:00,418
It sounds like Mao,
663
01:08:01,168 --> 01:08:02,501
but it's the Angkar.
664
01:08:04,793 --> 01:08:07,335
Pol Pot goes to the airport in person
665
01:08:07,835 --> 01:08:10,251
to greet two Chinese leaders:
666
01:08:10,751 --> 01:08:12,418
Zhang Chunqiao
667
01:08:12,501 --> 01:08:14,001
and Geng Biao.
668
01:08:14,710 --> 01:08:18,001
Chinese comrades inspired
the policy and ideology
669
01:08:18,085 --> 01:08:20,043
of Democratic Kampuchea.
670
01:08:20,793 --> 01:08:23,251
This picture of fraternity
is not missing.
671
01:08:31,335 --> 01:08:34,501
The great leap forward,
isn't it wonderful?
672
01:08:35,001 --> 01:08:37,210
Is not each day a celebration?
673
01:08:38,876 --> 01:08:41,918
Is not Kampuchea succeeding
674
01:08:42,001 --> 01:08:43,835
through purity and void
675
01:08:43,918 --> 01:08:46,626
where the Chinese failed?
676
01:08:49,335 --> 01:08:53,501
Is not Kampuchea an extraordinary
laboratory of ideology?
677
01:08:54,293 --> 01:08:56,668
Is not this visit a lesson?
678
01:09:36,668 --> 01:09:38,418
We hunted rats.
679
01:09:38,918 --> 01:09:40,418
We ate them.
680
01:09:41,001 --> 01:09:42,668
We ate insects,
681
01:09:43,126 --> 01:09:44,460
roots,
682
01:09:45,043 --> 01:09:46,543
raw snails.
683
01:09:46,918 --> 01:09:49,335
That's how dehumanisation starts.
684
01:09:50,210 --> 01:09:51,751
With hunger,
685
01:09:51,835 --> 01:09:53,626
with illness,
686
01:09:53,710 --> 01:09:55,460
with physical decay.
687
01:10:17,876 --> 01:10:20,001
Who filmed the sick people?
688
01:10:20,793 --> 01:10:24,043
Who filmed the pagodas turned hospices?
689
01:10:25,085 --> 01:10:28,585
The worm-eaten knee
of my bunk neighbour?
690
01:10:29,460 --> 01:10:31,043
Or the young woman
691
01:10:31,418 --> 01:10:33,085
who can't deliver,
692
01:10:33,626 --> 01:10:35,168
who screams all night,
693
01:10:35,251 --> 01:10:36,793
alone,
694
01:10:36,876 --> 01:10:39,501
hitting her belly, to death?
695
01:11:10,543 --> 01:11:13,835
Of course,
there's a Khmer Rouge hospital.
696
01:11:15,085 --> 01:11:18,710
I lived there for weeks
in the huge halls of death.
697
01:11:19,626 --> 01:11:22,710
Medicines are stored
in Coca-Cola bottles.
698
01:11:23,585 --> 01:11:26,668
Patients are injected
with coconut water,
699
01:11:26,751 --> 01:11:27,918
so pure.
700
01:11:39,043 --> 01:11:42,251
I wished I could not hear the moaning,
701
01:11:43,126 --> 01:11:45,710
the hiccups, the screaming,
702
01:11:46,251 --> 01:11:49,376
no longer smell damp rotting flesh.
703
01:11:52,293 --> 01:11:54,418
The dead leave by night.
704
01:11:55,793 --> 01:11:58,876
Mornings I'd carry them away
on wood planks.
705
01:12:00,293 --> 01:12:01,960
And I survived.
706
01:12:04,210 --> 01:12:07,210
This man sitting on the floor
is too weak.
707
01:12:08,126 --> 01:12:09,751
He does not eat.
708
01:12:09,835 --> 01:12:10,960
He cannot move.
709
01:12:12,168 --> 01:12:14,668
I've pictured him all these years.
710
01:12:15,335 --> 01:12:17,043
I hold a hand out to him.
711
01:12:28,210 --> 01:12:32,293
The Khmer Rouge have destroyed
capitalist medicine.
712
01:12:33,043 --> 01:12:34,293
They chop roots,
713
01:12:35,043 --> 01:12:36,835
they boil them.
714
01:12:37,293 --> 01:12:40,460
They experiment
with traditional remedies,
715
01:12:40,543 --> 01:12:42,335
therefore revolutionary.
716
01:12:44,293 --> 01:12:47,626
Everywhere are experimental units
using humans.
717
01:12:48,460 --> 01:12:50,876
At S21, for example.
718
01:12:52,335 --> 01:12:54,543
"There are no more diplomas!
719
01:12:54,626 --> 01:12:56,793
Only practical diplomas!"
720
01:13:48,126 --> 01:13:49,626
I washed the hall.
721
01:13:50,293 --> 01:13:51,751
I washed the sick.
722
01:13:52,668 --> 01:13:54,460
And every morning
723
01:13:54,543 --> 01:13:57,168
I carried the dead
down to the pit.
724
01:13:58,876 --> 01:14:00,918
Sometimes, I teeter on the void.
725
01:14:02,376 --> 01:14:03,918
There are hollow sounds,
726
01:14:04,418 --> 01:14:05,835
bones knocking,
727
01:14:05,918 --> 01:14:09,168
hands that seek
and find those of a child,
728
01:14:11,001 --> 01:14:14,126
a child who tells himself he's alive,
who tells the tale,
729
01:14:14,210 --> 01:14:15,876
that's me.
730
01:15:23,918 --> 01:15:25,876
In the middle of life
731
01:15:25,960 --> 01:15:27,251
childhood returns
732
01:15:28,543 --> 01:15:30,043
sweet and bitter
733
01:15:30,585 --> 01:15:32,126
with its images.
734
01:15:33,251 --> 01:15:35,251
Childhood as drowning.
735
01:15:35,710 --> 01:15:37,543
Childhood as question.
736
01:15:38,126 --> 01:15:40,043
Why am I here?
737
01:15:40,626 --> 01:15:43,751
Why couldn't I have helped
my loved ones more?
738
01:15:44,710 --> 01:15:46,501
Already in childhood
739
01:15:46,585 --> 01:15:48,335
death is present.
740
01:16:56,126 --> 01:16:59,543
We understand the Khmer Rouge
on seeing their footage.
741
01:17:00,585 --> 01:17:03,751
Pol Pot forges a reality
conformant with his desire.
742
01:17:04,460 --> 01:17:06,793
Even nature must conform.
743
01:17:35,335 --> 01:17:36,501
Sometimes,
744
01:17:36,585 --> 01:17:39,168
the cadres gathered several villages
745
01:17:39,251 --> 01:17:40,543
and showed a film
746
01:17:41,210 --> 01:17:43,418
boasting our bare-handed fight
747
01:17:43,501 --> 01:17:45,626
against the colonial powers.
748
01:17:46,751 --> 01:17:47,960
Of course,
749
01:17:48,376 --> 01:17:50,418
we knew the actors were bad,
750
01:17:51,168 --> 01:17:52,835
that the film was bad.
751
01:17:53,585 --> 01:17:56,543
Many slept in the back, exhausted,
752
01:17:56,626 --> 01:17:57,793
like me.
753
01:18:49,626 --> 01:18:51,293
For four years,
754
01:18:51,376 --> 01:18:54,251
we were moved
from worksite to worksite.
755
01:18:55,668 --> 01:18:59,835
How to revolt when all you've got
are black clothes and a spoon?
756
01:19:00,585 --> 01:19:02,043
When you are lost?
757
01:19:02,501 --> 01:19:03,960
When you are hungry?
758
01:19:05,501 --> 01:19:10,168
Some say now it's because of Buddhism
and the acceptance of destiny.
759
01:19:11,001 --> 01:19:13,168
Where were those fine minds then?
760
01:19:14,043 --> 01:19:15,335
In their books?
761
01:19:15,751 --> 01:19:17,335
In their lofty ideas?
762
01:19:19,085 --> 01:19:22,460
Here it is not karma,
not religion that kills.
763
01:19:23,210 --> 01:19:24,793
It is ideology.
764
01:19:31,210 --> 01:19:35,418
At the start of all totalitarianism
is falsity.
765
01:19:36,376 --> 01:19:37,876
"Afraid of your enemies?
766
01:19:38,418 --> 01:19:40,335
You're afraid of tree trunks."
767
01:19:41,460 --> 01:19:43,543
I worked in the great forests.
768
01:19:44,335 --> 01:19:47,251
We had to cut trees and plant corn.
769
01:19:48,043 --> 01:19:50,501
There was the heat, the humidity,
770
01:19:51,210 --> 01:19:53,710
the snakes, the tarantulas,
771
01:19:54,251 --> 01:19:55,626
the monkeys,
772
01:19:56,251 --> 01:19:59,251
and the lizards
that some of my comrades ate.
773
01:20:02,335 --> 01:20:05,043
"Don't be vanquished by nature!
774
01:20:05,585 --> 01:20:07,501
Vow to attack!
775
01:20:07,585 --> 01:20:09,418
Make a breach!"
776
01:20:11,335 --> 01:20:13,501
These slogans never roused me,
777
01:20:14,210 --> 01:20:16,835
but the sounds of the great forest did.
778
01:21:52,918 --> 01:21:54,543
We hardened,
779
01:21:55,085 --> 01:21:57,085
growing used to fighting the cold,
780
01:21:57,835 --> 01:21:59,585
to controlling our bodies.
781
01:22:00,460 --> 01:22:04,126
After the storm,
we slept in wet clothes.
782
01:22:05,668 --> 01:22:06,960
I remember the market,
783
01:22:09,001 --> 01:22:11,210
its tart, joyful smells,
784
01:22:11,293 --> 01:22:12,585
the scent of jasmine.
785
01:22:14,085 --> 01:22:15,751
I remember lovers,
786
01:22:16,335 --> 01:22:17,501
their shy gestures,
787
01:22:18,418 --> 01:22:19,710
their glances.
788
01:22:23,210 --> 01:22:25,210
I remember abundance.
789
01:22:25,960 --> 01:22:27,251
I remember silk,
790
01:22:27,960 --> 01:22:30,168
fish, meat,
791
01:22:30,751 --> 01:22:32,668
and the smell of boiled chicken
792
01:22:32,751 --> 01:22:35,085
that obsessed me for four years.
793
01:22:35,835 --> 01:22:37,918
I remember happy meals.
794
01:22:39,751 --> 01:22:41,293
At my childhood market
795
01:22:41,876 --> 01:22:43,460
people had mouths.
796
01:22:43,918 --> 01:22:47,043
They laughed and talked.
They kissed.
797
01:23:05,043 --> 01:23:06,543
It's the same street,
798
01:23:06,960 --> 01:23:08,960
lively then empty.
799
01:23:09,626 --> 01:23:11,168
Yes, the same,
800
01:23:11,251 --> 01:23:13,293
in the neighbourhoods of Phnom Penh,
801
01:23:13,876 --> 01:23:15,668
if you open your eyes.
802
01:23:17,835 --> 01:23:21,001
I remember this world
so imperfect and human.
803
01:23:22,043 --> 01:23:25,126
"2000 years of slavery"
said Pol Pot.
804
01:23:27,501 --> 01:23:29,835
He's a human being
like you and me.
805
01:23:29,918 --> 01:23:32,210
He simply made a choice,
806
01:23:32,293 --> 01:23:35,293
an ideological choice,
be it a criminal one.
807
01:23:36,710 --> 01:23:38,793
But it's difficult,
808
01:23:38,876 --> 01:23:42,793
that's why I really wanted
to make this film.
809
01:23:42,876 --> 01:23:45,793
No one is born an assassin
or an executioner...
810
01:23:46,210 --> 01:23:49,418
Our son sure jabbers now.
811
01:23:50,126 --> 01:23:51,793
On and on he rambles.
812
01:23:52,085 --> 01:23:54,293
At least he's good with words.
813
01:23:55,126 --> 01:23:58,168
You'd rather he be a teacher,
like you.
814
01:23:58,668 --> 01:24:00,585
But it's our story he films.
815
01:24:00,668 --> 01:24:01,876
That's us.
816
01:24:02,543 --> 01:24:04,710
What about the poor and hungry?
817
01:24:05,085 --> 01:24:08,418
The rich expropriated them too,
not just the Khmer Rouge.
818
01:24:16,501 --> 01:24:17,876
The father is right.
819
01:24:18,710 --> 01:24:20,668
Before the Khmer Rouge,
820
01:24:20,751 --> 01:24:23,418
the poor were thrown off their land.
821
01:24:23,501 --> 01:24:26,668
They were enrolled
because of this injustice.
822
01:24:27,668 --> 01:24:30,001
Then there were the Americans.
823
01:24:31,085 --> 01:24:34,793
They dropped 500,000 tons
of bombs on the country.
824
01:24:35,251 --> 01:24:38,043
So the poor joined the Revolution.
825
01:24:38,126 --> 01:24:39,585
They raised their fists.
826
01:24:40,876 --> 01:24:43,668
The Khmer Rouge lied to them
about justice,
827
01:24:44,210 --> 01:24:45,626
equality,
828
01:24:45,710 --> 01:24:47,126
happiness,
829
01:24:47,210 --> 01:24:48,751
progress,
830
01:24:48,835 --> 01:24:50,043
about everything.
831
01:24:51,210 --> 01:24:54,543
And these same poor
still dig dirt today.
832
01:25:39,460 --> 01:25:42,085
Sometimes, I picture a child.
833
01:25:42,793 --> 01:25:44,418
Let's say it's me.
834
01:25:45,793 --> 01:25:47,168
He had it all wrong.
835
01:25:48,585 --> 01:25:50,251
He couldn't fish,
836
01:25:50,585 --> 01:25:53,543
or walk barefoot, or fight.
837
01:25:55,210 --> 01:25:56,918
Years later,
838
01:25:57,376 --> 01:26:01,835
he feels guilty
for not helping the destitute.
839
01:26:04,126 --> 01:26:06,501
They say talking helps.
840
01:26:06,876 --> 01:26:08,085
You understand.
841
01:26:08,376 --> 01:26:09,710
You get over it.
842
01:26:10,251 --> 01:26:11,585
For me,
843
01:26:12,126 --> 01:26:13,876
this wisdom will never be.
844
01:26:16,210 --> 01:26:18,335
I seek no picture of loved ones
845
01:26:19,501 --> 01:26:21,251
but rather to touch them.
846
01:26:22,335 --> 01:26:23,960
Their voice is missing,
847
01:26:24,293 --> 01:26:26,210
so I won't tell.
848
01:26:27,501 --> 01:26:29,418
I want to leave it all,
849
01:26:29,501 --> 01:26:31,751
my language, my country,
850
01:26:32,626 --> 01:26:33,918
in vain,
851
01:26:34,376 --> 01:26:36,210
and my childhood returns.
852
01:26:38,376 --> 01:26:39,668
Now,
853
01:26:40,626 --> 01:26:42,585
it is the boy who seeks me.
854
01:26:43,418 --> 01:26:44,793
I see him.
855
01:26:45,543 --> 01:26:47,210
He wants to speak to me.
856
01:26:48,168 --> 01:26:50,251
But words are hard to find.
857
01:27:38,960 --> 01:27:40,501
This black dog
858
01:27:40,585 --> 01:27:42,543
is the god of passage.
859
01:27:42,918 --> 01:27:44,835
It takes me to its boat.
860
01:27:45,835 --> 01:27:47,210
When I look at it,
861
01:27:47,293 --> 01:27:49,251
I see the man with the felt hat
862
01:27:49,335 --> 01:27:51,876
and the river floating with corpses.
863
01:27:54,168 --> 01:27:56,126
In the village where I lived,
864
01:27:56,626 --> 01:28:01,043
families stayed on
after the Khmer Rouge left.
865
01:28:02,418 --> 01:28:05,168
The young men went to work in Thailand.
866
01:28:05,960 --> 01:28:07,710
The former village chief
867
01:28:07,793 --> 01:28:10,793
who was cruel and terrified us
on his horse
868
01:28:11,210 --> 01:28:12,793
was not arrested.
869
01:28:13,835 --> 01:28:15,918
He lived happily, I hear,
870
01:28:16,001 --> 01:28:17,751
and had many children.
871
01:28:45,876 --> 01:28:47,626
Their canteen is gone.
872
01:28:49,043 --> 01:28:50,918
Hardly anything remains.
873
01:28:52,085 --> 01:28:53,585
A few shards of jugs,
874
01:28:54,210 --> 01:28:55,751
rusted pans,
875
01:28:56,418 --> 01:28:58,126
a clay oven.
876
01:28:59,210 --> 01:29:00,626
It's all over
877
01:29:01,001 --> 01:29:02,918
like a cruel film.
878
01:29:08,793 --> 01:29:11,168
As for the pits near the hospital
879
01:29:11,251 --> 01:29:13,168
where I buried so many
880
01:29:13,793 --> 01:29:15,918
and my mother, and my sisters,
881
01:29:16,918 --> 01:29:19,251
they have become a manmade lake
882
01:29:19,960 --> 01:29:22,460
dug by an international organisation.
883
01:29:24,043 --> 01:29:26,418
The bones have been carried away.
884
01:29:27,210 --> 01:29:29,835
Pumpkins and corn have been planted.
885
01:29:31,085 --> 01:29:32,751
But the lake is so salty
886
01:29:33,501 --> 01:29:35,251
and such an odd green
887
01:29:35,668 --> 01:29:38,376
that no one dares use it
or drink from it.
888
01:30:07,501 --> 01:30:09,251
Are the dead there?
889
01:30:10,668 --> 01:30:11,668
Yes.
890
01:30:13,710 --> 01:30:16,585
Sometimes, it seems we walk over them.
891
01:30:17,543 --> 01:30:19,043
So I step away.
892
01:30:21,626 --> 01:30:23,876
There are always souls who wander
893
01:30:24,460 --> 01:30:26,126
seeking a place,
894
01:30:26,668 --> 01:30:28,751
a sweet noble thought.
895
01:30:31,710 --> 01:30:33,418
Many resisted.
896
01:30:34,168 --> 01:30:35,376
Many.
897
01:30:35,918 --> 01:30:37,126
In silence.
898
01:30:37,501 --> 01:30:38,626
In a word.
899
01:30:39,168 --> 01:30:40,835
In a smile.
900
01:30:41,960 --> 01:30:45,501
Sometimes, a small gesture
is all it takes to say no.
901
01:30:46,585 --> 01:30:50,001
I think of my father
who announced his choice.
902
01:30:51,293 --> 01:30:53,960
Sometimes, silence is a scream.
903
01:31:14,543 --> 01:31:16,126
Mourning is difficult,
904
01:31:16,876 --> 01:31:18,376
the burial endless.
905
01:31:20,210 --> 01:31:22,376
There are no more cattle cars,
906
01:31:23,585 --> 01:31:25,085
no more slogans,
907
01:31:25,168 --> 01:31:26,960
no young guards in black.
908
01:31:27,876 --> 01:31:30,126
There's only the blood-drenched earth.
909
01:31:30,835 --> 01:31:32,751
Their flesh is my flesh.
910
01:31:33,585 --> 01:31:35,543
So we are together.
911
01:31:38,501 --> 01:31:42,876
There are many things that Man
should not see or know.
912
01:31:43,876 --> 01:31:45,626
Should he see them,
913
01:31:45,710 --> 01:31:47,751
he'd be better off dying.
914
01:31:49,501 --> 01:31:52,793
But should any one of us
see or know them
915
01:31:53,501 --> 01:31:56,001
then he must live to tell of them.
916
01:31:58,751 --> 01:32:00,126
Every morning,
917
01:32:00,668 --> 01:32:03,126
I worked over that pit.
918
01:32:04,043 --> 01:32:06,668
My shovel hit bones and heads.
919
01:32:07,293 --> 01:32:09,710
As for dirt, there is never enough.
920
01:32:11,501 --> 01:32:13,168
It's me they will kill.
921
01:32:13,751 --> 01:32:15,960
Or maybe they already have.
922
01:32:18,085 --> 01:32:20,876
Of course, I haven't found
the missing picture.
923
01:32:21,793 --> 01:32:23,210
I looked for it,
924
01:32:23,793 --> 01:32:25,043
in vain.
925
01:32:27,543 --> 01:32:31,043
A political film should unearth
what it invented.
926
01:32:32,293 --> 01:32:34,376
And so I make this picture.
927
01:32:34,918 --> 01:32:36,418
I look at it.
928
01:32:36,501 --> 01:32:37,710
I cherish it.
929
01:32:38,543 --> 01:32:41,501
I hold it in my hand
like a beloved face.
930
01:32:42,543 --> 01:32:44,418
This missing picture
931
01:32:44,501 --> 01:32:46,668
I now hand over to you
932
01:32:46,751 --> 01:32:49,251
so that it never cease to seek us out.
933
01:34:50,918 --> 01:34:53,501
Subtitles: Letitia Farris Toussaint
934
01:34:53,626 --> 01:34:55,626
Subtitling: LVT - Paris
59503