The Killing Fields

This programme contains some violent scenes

This programme contains strong language

(AIRPLANE APPROACHES)

Cambodia.

To many Westerners, it seemed a paradise.

Another world, a secret world.

But the war in neighbouring Vietnam

burst its borders,

and the fighting soon spread to neutral Cambodia.

In 1973, I went to cover this side-show struggle

as Foreign Correspondent of the New York Times.

There, amidst the fighting between government troops

and the Khmer Rouge guerrillas,

I met my guide and interpreter, Dith Pran,

a man who was to change my life

in a country I grew to love and pity.

-RADIO:

-So, here we go with Voice of America...

news for southeast Asia.

It's 6:45 and a partly cloudy morning here.

Clouds, too, in Washington.

President Nixon will address the nation

on the Watergate case within the next few days.

This will be his first comment since May

on the scandal that has resulted in resignations

and nearly paralysed the White House staff.

It has also led to intense confrontation

and, perhaps, a constitutional crisis

with Senate investigators

and the special Watergate prosecutor.

The speech was announced

after gallup polls disclosed Mr Nixon's popularity

had fallen to the lowest point

for an American president in 20 years.

Further problems...

..A Supreme Court judge, William O'Douglas,

has ruled against an administration appeal

for a stay of the injunction

on further US bombing missions in Cambodia.

Congress has already ruled these bombings illegal,

and they should cease in one week's time.

(MEN SPEAK KHMER)

(SIREN)

Let's go, Sarun.

To the hospital.

-PA:

-Information. Information.

Air Cambodia regrets the late arrival

of flight number 125 from Bangkok

because of bad weather.

Information. Information.

Air Cambodia regrets the late arrival

of flight number 125 from Bangkok

because of bad weather.

Thank you.

-PA:

-Information. Information.

Air cambodge regrette que le vol numero 125...

Mister, you want taxi? ok?

You want good taxi?

All right. Yeah.

Shut the fucking blinds, will you?

What's all this shit?

I'm sorry.

I thought you were the houseboy.

I was developing some film.

If you're going to yell, I'll come back later.

I'm not going to yell,

but the plane was three hours late, no car, had to take a taxi.

All I want to do is work. I got you.

Deux cent quatre.

What the fuck is that on your head?

It's a sanitary napkin. I had it soaked in ice.

Hello? Syd Schanberg. Is Pran there?

No, I just came from the airport.

If he comes in, tell him I'm here.

I'll be at the Cafe Central.

Thanks a lot.

So, what do you want to eat?

Want some eggs?

I can't eat eggs.

They faint with fright when they cook them.

What are you having?

I'm having cafe complet.

I'll have that and some aspirin.

Deux cafes complets.

Et est-ce-que vous avez des aspirines?

Oui, monsieur.

Anything I eat has got to be absolutely dead.

That's why I could never eat an oyster.

I read somewhere

that they put that, uh...what...

that lemon juice on them

just to stun them.

What's the difference?

An unconscious oyster's just as horrible as...

(MAN YELLS)

Did you see that?

Was that a rocket?

I don't know. I saw a guy on a motorbike.

(WHISTLE)

Sydney! Sydney!

Where have you been? I've been looking for you.

I left a message. Didn't you get it?

No. I took a cab.

There is big accident right now.

What?

US drop many big bombs on a little city.

US bombs? You sure?

I think many, many dead.

-Does anybody else know?

-Nothing at all.

-We're going.

-Not possible now. Too dangerous.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Where you going, Schanberg?

Neak Luong.

Neak Luong's closed.

Don't give me that.

You've got nothing to say.

I got a right to go wherever I like.

That's their law.

That's our law.

Impeding me breaks the Cooper-Church Amendment.

Well, up the Cooper-Church Amendment's ass!

-Let's go.

-Neak Luong. OK?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

So, how can I help you, Mr Schanberg?

Maybe you could give me some information

on why my airplane was delayed this morning.

Your plane was delayed?

That's right.

Maybe it's bad weather.

Commercial flights aren't my jurisdiction.

You don't know anything about it?

No, I don't.

All right.

I'd like you to listen to something I've just been listening to,

and then I'd like a comment.

This morning, for reasons beyond anybody's control,

I spend two hours in Bangkok,

staring at a seat belt sign.

Meanwhile, my sources tell me,

two army helicopters are landing here,

across the airfield.

Half the ambulances in Phnom Penh

are waiting to meet them.

Now there's a rumour that the US Air force

dropped a bomb or several bombs on Neak Luong.

Schanberg, that's a rumour. I won't comment on rumours.

I don't understand you.

Is that the reason my airplane was delayed?

No comment.

How many killed?

How many wounded?

Thank you for your co-operation, Major Reeves.

When I scrape this story out,

I will no doubt be quoting you in full.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

I'm sorry, Sydney.

Pran, this is not good enough.

"No" is not good enough.

This is a big story. A major story.

We've got to get down there.

-I know...

-I don't want to hear no!

How will we get down there?

We should be down there now.

(HORN HONKS)

I'll be here.

Good night, Sydney.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Messages?

-No, sir.

-No, sir.

-MAN:

-I've got to get back.

Let's get together soon.

Bob?

Bob?

Hello, Sydney.

Good night, Sydney.

-Listen, I can't talk with you.

-You can talk to me.

The embassy's jittery. Go to the press officer.

Let's not start insulting each other.

Good night, Sydney.

All right, good night.

All right. You've heard of pilot error?

Computer malfunction?

They screwed up on the co-ordinates.

A single B-52 dropped its entire load on Neak Luong.

There's a homing beacon

in the middle of the town.

How many casualties?

You'll be briefed tomorrow. We estimate 55 military,

something like 35 civilians.

How many, Bob?

I hear it's in the hundreds.

And don't quote me on that.

# Will there be a dreadful bloodbath

# When the Khmer Rouge hit the town

# Will there be a dreadful bloodbath

# Bomb now, into the ground. #

Beer. We haven't had this for four weeks.

-MAN:

-New York Times probably flew it in.

-You keep it upstairs, Sydney?

-We've got a cellar here.

I wouldn't be surprised. Americans take themselves so damn seriously.

He's just trying to get to the top of the heap like anybody else.

We'll have to pay more to the telex operator to get ours to the top.

The man's just bought you a beer. Drink up.

-Cheers, Syd.

-Cheers. Enjoy it.

Off to see the telex operator?

-The New York Times goes to bed early.

-Oh, sure.

# ...Khmer Rouge in the sunset

# The Yanks all at sea...

Sydney.

-All right?

-Very possible.

Well, let's go then!

(SPEAKING KHMER)

This is good work!

-How much?

-150.

Dollar American. Dollar American.

100.

-All right?

-All right.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Ha ha ha!

Nice going, Pran.

Right. Very lucky.

(BABY CRYING)

(CRYING)

-PRAN:

-Sydney.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

What is he saying?

He wants you to look at his family, to take a photograph

and help him, because his child was wounded.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

-Pran.

-Yes?

Tell me what she's saying.

She needs help.

Her shop was destroyed last night.

Her husband killed.

How many bombs?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

She doesn't know.

Does she know where the hospital is?

Just over there.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

She wants to know did someone arrest the pilot?

-Girl:

-Mister, you want to buy?

Mister, you want to buy?

-One dollar.

-No photo. I'm out of film. I'm sorry.

Ask her how many kids she's got in her family.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Five.

Her husband was killed already.

Pran, what are these guys over here?

Sydney! Sydney! In the jeep, prisoners!

Khmer Rouge prisoners.

# Band on the run

# Band on the run...

They kill a lot of villagers.

He says Khmer Rouge soak rags in gasoline

and push them down villagers' throat

and set the rags alight.

Film, no film!

I know there's no film.

No camera! No camera!

It's all right.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Just take it easy.

Tell them we're journ...

(GUNSHOTS)

Sydney! Come on! Get in!

# ..in the village square for the rabbits on the run

# Band on the run

# Band on the run...

I'm worried, Sydney.

I'm the guy who bring you over here.

They accuse me, and they arrest me.

How can they arrest you? You're already arrested.

They phoned Phnom Penh about me, Sydney.

I want some cigarettes.

And I need to take a leak.

Would you tell him I need to piss?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

He said no piss.

-What does that mean, "no piss"?

-There's no piss, Sydney.

All right. I've had enough of this bullshit.

I got a story to get to New York.

Sydney!

Sydney!

Don't leave me, Sydney! Hey!

(SPEAKING KHMER)

I won't leave you.

(HELICOPTERS APPROACH)

They brought in the whole fucking press corps!

They want to sanitise the story!

Bastards!

I am going to tell you something.

I'm walking out of here.

Will you blow my fucking head off?

You got a general out there.

I'm an American citizen,

and I'm walking out of here!

He want to get higher officer.

Then get him! Get him!

-REEVES ON LOUDHAILER:

-I'm sorry we couldn't show you

all the minor bomb damage in the city.

That's still a restricted area.

If you look across the river,

you'll see positions that are held by Khmer Rouge infiltrators,

who moved in recently.

But the forces of the Cambodian Republican Army are moving in.

They'll have the KR out of there before you can say Jack Robinson.

Get in the chopper now!

No, Schanberg!

You came on a boat, you go back on a boat!

That won't stop my story!

What the hell is this?

If you weren't here, I wouldn't be here!

I don't want to be here! What good is it doing?

If anybody gets to read about this,

you won't be able to look them in the face!

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Sydney.

Sydney.

Good morning.

What time is it?

6:00.

-Shit.

-Telex.

You've been to the telex?

Yes.

We made the front page.

Sure.

We must be doing something right.

Sydney, my wife is very worried.

She thinks all foreign journalists are going to leave Cambodia.

Well, Pran...

..I guess I'd feel kinda stupid trying to cover this war

from a desk in Bangkok.

She said, "If the war keeps going like this,

"the future could be very bad."

What do you think?

I don't know.

I don't know either.

Is Sarun downstairs?

-Sure.

-Let's get going.

All right.

OK.

-Don't go back to sleep, OK?

-I won't.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

The KR's making a push for the airport road.

They cut it, the city could be lost.

We hype these people up.

"You'll be all right with us," we tell them.

Now look at all this fucking mess.

(HORN HONKS)

-SOLDIER:

-In America, everybody got a good car.

(SPEAKS KHMER)

He ask you what car you drive in United States.

I don't have a car in America. Only the Mercedes here.

Mercedes, number one.

Ask him where he learned to speak his English.

American advisor with his unit teach him.

Mercedes, number one, OK?

(HORN HONKS)

(HORN HONKS)

(HORN HONKS)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

What did he say?

He said he thought all American people left already.

Made in the USA.

-MAN:

-Are we winning?

No, uh... you're not winning.

Make sure they don't cut off the airport road.

(SOLDIER SPEAKS KHMER)

The first section came by route number 36,

and the second one came down by route number 26.

Khmer Rouge will come down route 3.

He doesn't know how many.

They expect an attack today.

-Where's your commander?

-Phnom Penh.

-What's he doing there?

-Don't know.

How many mortar rounds...

Rockoff, get your ass out of here!

Get out of here!

Come on! Come on! Let's get him out of here!

-Fuck this!

-Are we pulling out?

I'm not happy here, Syd!

Jon, I'm leaving!

Syd, come on!

Come on!

(EXPLOSIONS AND SCREAMING)

Sydney! Sydney, this way!

Sydney, look! Khmer Rouge!

(CHILDREN SCREAMING)

(WAILS)

(BABY CRYING)

-RADIO:

-In Washington, the Cambodian ambassador,

in a speech to the Washington Press Club, said,

"Let's face it, you took advantage of us and our inexperience..."

I can't eat.

"..Because you are much cleverer than we are,

"you could induce us into this fighting."

Indeed, the Khmer Rouge insurgents in Cambodia

have tightened their ring around the capital, Phnom Penh,

now swollen with some two million refugees from the fighting.

Reports from government troops

talk of the field situation being so bad

that soldiers are having to siphon gas from jeep to jeep

in order to be able to get the wounded back to the capital.

(EXPLOSION)

(EXPLOSION)

(SPEAKING KHMER, MAN REPLIES)

No more electricity, Sydney.

(TYPING SLOWLY)

-MAN:

-Now I get a message to try for negotiation.

Well, it's just too goddamn late.

This country's split apart.

We put this ship to sea, and it breaks my heart

not to help it back to a port.

Pisses me off. This country has a lot of faults and lots of strengths,

and we have done nothing but play to the faults.

Syd, I'll be damn glad to get out of here.

This thing has dragged on too long

for it to end in all sweetness and light.

After what the Khmer Rouge have been through,

I don't think they'll be exactly affectionate toward Westerners.

-Where do you want this?

-Anywhere. It doesn't matter.

-On the floor. There. Anywhere.

-Mr Schanberg.

Oh, my dependents. Six.

Dith Pran and family.

Right.

"Dear sir,

"my family and I are planning

"a touring vacation of southeast Asia

"and anticipate two weeks in Cambodia,

"touring the country.

"Would you please send tour information and brochures?

"Thanking you in advance, Wendell Payne."

Wendell lives in Wisacky, South Carolina.

What about the airlift?

We're taking it with us.

Many people will starve to death.

I know, but what can we do?

There could be a bloodbath here.

Look, excuse the pun,

but we're either staying, or we're "living".

Hello. Leaving a sinking ship, are we, cobber?

-RADIO:

-Tourism is open to question.

President Ford, in his foreign policy speech,

hardly referred to Cambodia,

except to say that, as of now, it may be too late.

I'm sorry, Sydney. I'm late.

Where have you been?

They stopped me because of the curfew.

-The curfew, huh?

-Yes, I'm sorry, Sydney.

All right. You can get started.

Tell them to start sending this, but hold the last two paragraphs.

I'll be over with corrections in an hour.

They don't transmit today.

The transmitter at Kambol got hit.

They say 6pm, we can file.

6pm!

What do you think we're working for here?

A monthly magazine?

This is a newspaper.

How about update tomorrow?

Yeah, sure. We can file an update tomorrow.

I was over at the American Embassy yesterday.

Good news?

No, not good news.

They say that when this place goes up...

..they think that a lot of people will get killed.

I've arranged for the evacuation of you and your family.

So now it's up to you.

What do you want to do?

Do you want to stay or do you want to leave?

And how about you?

That's none of your business.

Do you want to stay or do you want to leave?

I know...you love my family, Sydney.

But me, I'm reporter too, Sydney.

You know what I mean?

We don't have to decide this now.

We don't have to decide it right now.

Take it easy.

But we have to make up our minds pretty soon, all right?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

All right! This is it!

Is the floor clear?

This is the last check.

Last check. This is the last check!

-Mr Kincaid is not here.

-He is.

Mr Kincaid is gone. You keep Mr Kincaid's money.

I want you to go right now.

I want you to leave now.

You're not going to see Mr Kincaid again!

OK, Sergeant.

Have you got Pran here?

Have you got Pran on there, and his wife?

-Yes, sir.

-Dith Pran... Did they come in yet?

No, sir, they haven't arrived yet.

Al, have you seen Pran?

No, no, I haven't.

Where is he?

Well, it's been real.

They're going to miss it.

Well, why don't you check around the other side?

If he comes here,

I'm looking for him in the back.

Beth, have you seen Pran?

No. Have you looked at the hotel?

xx He's at the post office!

The post office!

Get the fuck out of here!

Move your asses out of here!

Go, go, go!

Where do you think you're going?

-To embassy. To embassy.

-OK.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Yes, sir. What's your name?

Dith Pran family, sir.

Dith Pran family? I'm sorry. They've been through.

-See Sydney Schanberg.

-They've been through.

Check one more time, please. You made mistake, sir.

Rockoff! Rockoff! Rockoff! Help me!

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Come on! There's no time!

Wait a minute.

Smile.

(CLICK)

Jon.

Hello, Sydney.

If the going gets rough,

I heard our best bet's the French Embassy.

Who told you that?

The British Embassy.

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

Yup?

Sydney, Khmer Rouge coming.

Look like government soldiers. Give them big welcome.

OK.

(CHEERING, HORNS HONKING)

Sydney!

No more fighting, Sydney!

I be right back!

Ah! La paix! La paix! La paix!

Rockoff! Rockoff!

No more fighting! No more war!

What do you think?

I don't know, I don't like the look of this.

I swung through Keng Kang this morning.

Practically got my ass shot off.

I just don't think these guys are for real.

I'm going to the hospital. You want to come with me?

Jon! Jon!

(BABIES CRYING)

-DOCTOR:

-Tetracaine. 50mg, please.

What am I supposed to do, sing her a lullaby?

Pentathol, 250mg.

(CHILD MOANS IN PAIN)

Oh, Jesus. Another shrapnel in the spine here.

Let's have her over.

Gentlemen, you know we've only had one unit of blood

in the last two days.

-Plasma substitute, please, quick.

-NURSE:

-Oui, monsieur.

We have plenty of blood, gentlemen.

The problem is it's all in the wrong fucking place.

Why do so many corpses have to pile up

before people decide it's time to go home?

For God's sake, back up the car!

-For God's sake,

-back it up now!

Why doesn't he get his ass in here?

He's trying to get in. They won't let him in.

All right?

(GUNFIRE)

(ALL SHOUTING)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(GUNSHOT)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

-PRAN:

-Ce sont les journalistes. Les journalistes francaises.

(PRAM TALKS TO KHMER ROUGE)

(KHMER ROUGE LAUGH)

OK?

Looks all right.

(SIREN)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

.

(SIREN)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(BLEAK, EPIC CHORAL MUSIC)

(HE CRIES)

(SHOUTING AND CRYING)

(YELLING IN KHMER)

(THEY SHOUT AND ARGUE)

-RADIO:

-The picture in Cambodia is increasingly unclear.

Journalists who have flown

from Thailand over Phnom Penh

report that the Khmer Rouge

appear to have attempted a mass evacuation

of the entire population.

Radio contact with the French Embassy

reveals that some 200 Europeans

and an undisclosed number of Cambodians

have taken refuge there.

As yet, no statement has been made

by the new rulers of Cambodia.

The whereabouts of Prince Sihanouk,

under the Khmer Rouge's leadership,

are unclear,

But he is known to have...

-He's OK?

-Yes. He is sleeping.

(SAXOPHONE PLAYS)

(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

That's the consul.

Did you see that?

The Russians are coming.

Once it's Sunday, he won't get anything for...

Look, piss off!

You won't get anything here.

Out!

-RADIO:

-The main points of the news...

BBC, Dugal.

'Daily reports of fighting around the airport

'some 14 kilometres outside Phnom Penh,

'the capital of Cambodia.

'And now, an on-the-spot report

'from our correspondent in Thailand, Hugh Elder.'

Where did they get this crap?

You see that little guy across the gate?

Could we not all look at once, please?

I have it on reliable sources

that that's Hugh Elder.

You're kidding.

He's disguised,

but I got suspicious.

How does he get his copy out?

Specially-trained hens.

(THEY LAUGH)

The BBC's commissioned them

to walk past the Khmer Rouge

like they're regular fowl.

They cross the border into Thailand

every day and every night.

I told you. Hey.

'Unconfirmed reports say

'the Khmer Rouge demand officials

'of the defeated Lon Nol government,

'especially the so-called

'six traitors of the cabinet,

'be handed over to them.

'It is not known

'whether any of the ex-government ministers

'have taken refuge in the embassy,

'Where, according to a UNICEF representative in Bangkok,

'The situation is said

'to be increasingly precarious.

'Reports from travellers arriving in Thailand

'from Cambodia...'

(THE CHILD CRIES)

Calmez vous, voyons.

Allez, allez, venez!

Allez, il n'y a rien a craindre.

Adieu, L'Ancien Regime.

Monsieur, s'il vous plait.

Y a-t-il un journaliste par ici

qui parle Francais?

Vous parlez Francais, oui, monsieur?

Oui, d'accord.

Venez vite.

Pourquoi?

Man: When I tried to go a kilometre further, no.

The only sense I can make of it

is that there's some sort of

internal power struggle going on.

Different groups seem to be holding

different parts of the city.

They all appear to be equally nervous

of losing whatever power and control they have.

Half of them were under 15.

Sydney, I've got some Red Cross instructions

that want translating.

Use Pran. He speaks French better than I do.

I'd prefer it if it was you.

What did you do that for?

The guy's insecure enough already.

Sydney,

The Cambodians have to leave the embassy.

They want all our passports

and everybody downstairs...

And the Cambodians out.

Woman: Non! Non!

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

Monsieur le consul, s'il vous plait,

faites quelque chose pour cet enfant.

Do you have a paper, a name?

Americain? Regardez! Look! I fight for five years.

C'est une guerre inutile! Useless war!

Fuck!

You know Pran won't last five minutes out there.

The Khmer Rouge have killed

every fucking journalist they've ever caught.

Now does Syd know how serious this is?

Of course.

We can't let him walk out of here.

This passport's out of date,

but the visa's valid.

"Jon Ankertill Brewer Swain."

Knock out the Jon, knock out the Swain,

And you're left with Ankertill Brewer.

Put Pran's photograph in,

and he's a British subject.

It's worth a try.

He'd better have a photo

'cause I don't have any fucking film.

Pran.

I try to escape to Thailand right now.

Give me two or three weeks.

If you get there first, let me know

and leave message at Reuters, OK?

Just give me an hour.

I need some time to think.

I got no time to give you, Sydney.

Swain's got an idea.

Ankertill Brewer - that's the new name.

Ankertill Brewer.

Change my photograph for your photograph.

Do you have a photo?

I didn't think so.

Give him your passport.

Old passport, family snapshot?

Khmer Rouge took everything.

What about your press card?

-Everything!

-Fuck!

-They didn't give it back.

-We'll find some film.

There's film in the embassy, and we'll get it.

Polaroid, any kind, any speed.

We're going to get it, and I'll shoot it.

We'll find the film.

Do you have a polaroid camera?

Yes.

Do you have any film?

No! Nor any metronidazole

for this child's amoebic dysentery!

We need sulfide and some powerful developer.

Then I'll make a passport photo.

Shit! I know where we can get water.

We could drain the air conditioning.

I've seen it done. Come on.

Excuse me. Are you Mr Schanberg?

Yeah.

I've been told you're in charge

of the allocation of the bed covers.

What?

Blankets. We've just arrived.

Oh, yeah.

We want some blankets.

Yep, uh...

Come on down here.

Go to the end of the hall there,

then turn to the right,

go up to the top of the stairs.

If there are any, they'll be up there.

Syd, I have got the camera,

I have got the film,

and I have got the fucking darkroom!

Don't smile.

You're smiling.

Very serious. You're smiling.

Stop, please.

Very serious.

Very serious, very American.

Yes.

OK. Yeah.

Yeah...OK. Cover it.

Hand me the... hand me the board.

This fucking paper, I don't know.

That was the stuff you found in the copy room?

Just hold on a little more.

Ankertill Brewer.

Ankertill Brewer.

Ankertill Brewer.

Come on.

Getting an image. Look at it.

That's his face.

It sure is. Come on.

A little more...

A little more.

I'll fix it.

It's good.

Oh, no. Fuck. It's fogging.

God damn it.

God damn this paper.

God damn it!

I'm going to have to start again.

OK, now we're going to fix it.

Let me have that.

It's fading.

Take it out.

No. It's already gone.

-The solution's too strong.

-It's fading.

-Take it out now.

Fuck!

God damn it!

God damn it.

Man, this fucking room is killing me.

Look, uh, could I just, uh,

I'll just do it myself, OK?

Let me have a few feet in here by myself.

Fuck.

Sorry.

It's perfect.

Perfect.

Yeah!

Welcome to New York.

We got it.

Perfect. Perfect.

Ankertill Brewer. Ankertill Brewer.

All right, you jokers,

would you like to bring your passports to me?

It's the last call for passports.

Can I have your passports?

Thank you.

May I have your passports, please?

Thank you.

Passports, ladies and gents.

All right, you jokers, this is your last chance

to get your passports in.

Your passports, please.

On this passport depend my life.

Grazie, signore.

Passports, ladies.

This is for the big tour,

The big package.

Thank you.

From Thursday Island right down to mount Macedon

to see the famous hanging rock.

Come on. Passports, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, last call.

Going...

Going...

Gone.

Is this lunch?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

What?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

-RADIO:

-It does seem certain that the vast majority

of Phnom Penh's population

has been evacuated to the countryside.

The population's swollen with thousands of refugees.

Monsieur Swain.

Hello again.

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

-RADIO:

-It will be argued that this is a way of coping

with post-war chaos.

-JON:

-Can you turn that down, please?

Now listen, everybody.

The trucks which we've seen arriving

are for our evacuation,

probably in the next 24 hours.

Listen! That's to be confirmed.

It's almost certain.

Vive la France!

(SINGING LA MARSEILLAISE)

The majority of journalists have no right to be here.

You haven't seen any atrocities.

These are the first you've seen,

So just shut up!

You have to break eggs to make an omelette.

And I'm getting sick and tired

Of cleaning up the kitchen.

C'est un probleme?

Je suis desole, monsieur.

Il n'y a rien a faire.

Ankertill...

Brewer.

Ankertill...

Brewer.

Ankertill Brewer.

Ankertill Brewer.

Ankertill Brewer.

Sydney.

Ankertill Brewer.

Thank you.

Good luck.

Give me these back in Paris, OK?

Goodbye.

Why didn't you get him out

when you had the chance?

You had no right to keep him here.

Funny sense of priorities.

I'm reporter, too, Morgan.

I know his heart.

I love him like my brother,

and I do anything for him. Anything.

Goodbye, Rockoff.

-PRAN:

-Tell my wife I love her

and look after all my children.

She doesn't speak any English, Sydney.

Please...

I don't want anyone to be bad to my wife.

(FOGHORN)

-SYDNEY:

-Dith Pran...P-R-A-N.

He disappeared in Phnom Penh in 1975.

No. Pran is his first name.

We're hoping for any information at all.

He was last seen in Phnom Penh in '75,

in April 1975.

Pran is a resourceful man.

He will wait until he knows it's safe,

and then he'll make his move.

(TRANSLATING INTO KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Thank you for coming

and taking care of her and her family,

but she knows that her husband's dead.

That's not true.

That's absolutely not true.

(TRANSLATING INTO KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

It's not true. It's not.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

She doesn't believe you and what you said.

She knows her husband is dead.

You're a good man.

If your mother needs anything,

you make sure she gets in touch with me, OK?

Yes.

OK. You better go.

(NESSUN DORMA FROM "TURANDOT" PLAYS)

For the past five years,

as indicated on this map

which you see here,

North Vietnam

has occupied military sanctuaries

all along the Cambodian frontier

with South Vietnam.

As the President spoke,

American troops were preparing to move into Cambodia.

The decision to invade,

like the earlier secret decision to bomb,

was withheld from the Cambodian people.

We will yell at the top of our lungs.

Aah!

Fear makes a man lose his nerve.

There are no American combat advisers in Cambodia.

There will be no American combat troops

or advisers in Cambodia.

We will aid Cambodia.

Cambodia is the Nixon doctrine in its purest form.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

-PRAN:

-Sydney, I think of you often

and of my family.

They tell us that God is dead,

and now the party they call the Angka

will provide everything for us.

He says Angka has identified

and proclaims the existence

of a bad new disease -

a memory sickness

diagnosed as thinking too much about life

in pre-revolutionary Cambodia.

He says we are surrounded by enemies.

The enemy is inside us.

No-one can be trusted.

Angka.

(APPLAUSE)

We must be like the ox

and have no thought

except for the Party.

No love but for the Angka.

People starve...

but we must not grow food.

We must honour the comrade children

whose minds are not corrupted by the past.

PA ANNOUNCEMENT IN KHMER

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

Is anybody of us a doctor, professor, and student?

Angka needs you.

Angka forgiven all the past.

Sydney,

Angka says that those who were guilty of soft living

in the years of the great struggle

and did not care for the peasants' sufferings

must confess

because now is the Year Zero

and everything is to start anew.

I'm full of fear, Sydney.

I must show no understanding,

not of French or English.

I must have no past, Sydney.

This is the Year Zero,

and nothing has gone before.

The wind whispers of fear and hate.

The war has killed love, Sydney,

and those who confess to the Angka vanish,

and no-one dare ask where they go.

Here, only the silent survive.

(GUNSHOTS)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(BELL RINGS)

(BELL RINGS)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Mercedes. Number one.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Aah!

(APPLAUSE)

Anyone who knows my work

will know that half of this belongs to Dith Pran.

Without Pran I wouldn't have been able

to file half the stories that I did.

It's nice to congratulate ourselves

on occasions like this,

but I can't stand here tonight

without thinking of those innocent people

Pran dedicated himself to helping me bring

to the notice of the American public.

As they pondered their options in the White House,

the men who decided to bomb and then to invade Cambodia

concerned themselves with many things.

Great power conflicts

and collapsing dominoes,

looking tough and dangerous to the North Vietnamese,

relieving pressure on the American troop withdrawal

from the south.

They had domestic concerns as well,

which helps explain why

they kept the bombing of Cambodia a secret

for as long as they could.

And they may be assumed not to have ignored

self-interest in their own careers.

What they specifically were not concerned with

were the Cambodians themselves.

Not the people,

not the society,

not the country.

Except in the abstract as instruments of policy.

Dith Pran and I

tried to record and bring home here

the concrete consequences of these decisions

to real people,

to human beings.

The people who were left out

of the administration's plans

but who paid the price and took the beating for them.

I'm very pleased to accept this

on behalf of Dith Pran and myself.

I'm very honoured,

and I know that Pran would be very proud.

(APPLAUSE)

Congratulations, Eddie.

Do it again next year.

I'm sorry.

Hi.

Hi.

That was great.

Better than last year.

Abe.

Hi, meet my sister.

How do you do?

That's my dad over there.

Dad, would you hold this?

Mr Schanberg.

One second.

Could you recommend a journalism school?

Syd.

I told my daughter I'd be seeing you.

All right, all right, just one minute.

I'll be right back.

Mr Schanberg.

Could I have your autograph?

I'm a great admirer of yours.

OK.

Congratulations on your award.

It was well-deserved.

Yeah, very impressive.

I was hoping you'd burst into song.

Al, what are you doing here?

You know what bothers me?

What?

It bothers me that you let Pran stay in Cambodia

Because you wanted to win that fucking award.

I had no idea...

The fuck you didn't.

The fuck you didn't.

I did everything I could,

and I'm doing everything I can.

Anyway, it's nice to see you.

I'm doing everything I can!

So you've been out there to see him?

Don't play stupid games with me, Al.

Nobody gets to go in there.

If I thought I could, I would have.

I've sent out hundreds of photographs.

Every relief organization

on the Thai-Kampuchean border's got his...

..has got his picture.

If I saw one glimmer of hope,

I'd go today.

You would've missed the party.

Life isn't a forties' movie.

You can't just get on a plane

and make the whole world right!

And I can't believe I'm hearing this from you!

Congrats.

Are you in touch with Pran's family?

Yes, I am.

They're living in San Francisco.

What about the accusations

journalists underestimated the Khmer Rouge brutality

and so share responsibility

for what happened in Cambodia afterwards?

We made a mistake.

Maybe we underestimated the insanity

that 7 billion worth of bombing could produce.

-REPORTER:

-There are many refugee stories lately

in Reader's Digest

about conditions in Cambodia.

Do you believe them?

SYD: What's the matter, don't you believe them?

Maybe in this instance

the Reader's Digest happens to be correct.

Do you apply the same disbelief

to stories that come out of Iran

or Palestine or Chile?

Is that your next area of interest?

Refugees? The boat people?

You want a cup of tea?

SYD: Are you looking for more saleable suffering?

I must have sent 500 letters.

I wrote the International Red Cross,

the World Health Organization.

I know you did, Syd. You told me.

I don't know who I didn't write to.

I never really gave him any choice.

One time, he tried to discuss leaving.

I talked to him about it,

but we never really discussed it.

I discussed it with Swain and with Rockoff.

But I never discussed it with him.

He stayed because I wanted him to stay.

And I stayed because...

(HUMMING)

(SINGING IN KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Taxi.

Taxi.

Pran...

Parlez Francais?

Taxi. Taxi. Taxi.

Voulez-vous une cigarette?

Voulez-vous une cigarette?

Huh?

(SPEAKING KHMER)

I'm trapped, Sydney.

I know he suspects me,

and yet, he treats me well.

There are many different groups over here, Sydney.

I must take much care.

Now Angka says we have new enemies.

They say we must regain our old lands

from the Vietnamese.

And now they say we must fight them.

I miss you,

my wife, my children.

And my heart hungers for news of you.

-RADIO:

-New China radio reports

fighting between Vietnam and Democratic Kampuchea

has broken out on a number of fronts.

This is in retaliation,

according to the Vietnamese...

Allez, Monsieur Pran.

Taxi driver, huh?

Allez.

Allez-vous en.

Vous etiez de Phnom Penh?

Then you speak English.

Sit down.

You know I love this country.

I sacrificed everything for it.

My wife died for the revolution.

But the leaders of Angka

no longer trust the people.

Therefore, I can no longer trust them.

And they don't trust me.

I fear...

Really fear for the future.

I think you love my son.

For his sake...

Look after him.

The fighting is close by, Sydney.

If the Vietnamese get here,

Angka will destroy everything,

and the Vietnamese will find only ashes.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(EXPLOSION)

(BELL RINGS)

(GUNSHOTS)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(MACHINE GUN FIRE)

I must try to stop the killing.

Good luck.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

(JET PLANE PASSES)

(TWIG BREAKS)

(LAND MINE CLICKS)

(SPEAKING KHMER)

Yeah. I'll be right there.

Abe!

Ann, get me 415-555-6421.

Abe, I've got some great news!

Abe, 20 minutes ago,

I get a phone call from Paris.

I get Andreas Freund.

He talked to Henry Kemp.

Kemp told him how to reach me.

Freund says, "Sydney, I've got some great news."

-WOMAN:

-I've got San Francisco.

It's about Pran.

Is your mother there?

When?

All right. I want you to get this down.

No. Write it down, write it down.

I've got a message from your dad.

(SPEAKING KHMER)

# Imagine all the people

# Livin' for today

# I-I-I

# Imagine there's no countries

# It isn't hard to do

# Nothing to kill or die for

# And no religion, too

# Imagine all the people... #

How you been?

# Livin' life in peace

# You may say I'm a dreamer... #

Do you forgive me?

Nothing to forgive, Sydney. Nothing.

# I hope some day

# You'll join us

# And the world will be as one

# Imagine no possessions

# I wonder if you can

# No need for greed or hunger

# A brotherhood

# Of man

# Imagine all the people

# Sharing all the world

# You

# You may say I'm a dreamer

# But I'm not the only one

# I hope some day you'll join us

# And the world will live as one. #