Great Barrington — The Triplex Cinema will be showing the 1984 film “The Killing Fields” on Saturday, June 7, at 3 p.m., as a benefit for the theater. Following the screening, actor Sam Waterston will be in conversation with filmmaker and theater director Matthew Penn.
In the movie, which is based on true events, Waterston plays New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg. The biographical drama, set in 1973, is based on the experiences of journalists Schanberg and Cambodian Dith Pran in Cambodia during the civil war between the Cambodian National Army and the communist Khmer Rogue.
The Khmer Rouge won the Cambodian conflict in 1975, and while Schanberg is able to return to America, Pran is left behind and is missing.
“Why does ‘The Killing Fields’ still endure? I think because it shows a kind of duplicitousness of our government, specifically the secret bombings in Cambodia,” Penn told The Berkshire Edge, referencing a secret bombing campaign conducted by the U.S. government in Cambodia from 1965 to 1973. Part of this campaign is depicted in the movie when Schanberg and Pran visit the Cambodian town Neak Loeung after it was bombed by an American B-52.
“The movie also shows the horrors the Khmer Rouge inflicted on its own people,” Penn said. “The human cost was incredible, and to see all of the inhumane actions against human beings, a story like that will always have resonance.”
Penn said that another reason why the movie has stood the test of time is because director Ronald Joffé captured the immediacy of events as they happened in the film. “It feels like we are right there on the shoulders of the central characters as events happen,” Penn said. “It’s one of the film’s strongest elements that it has a dramatic documentary quality to it. It’s a drama, but it has a stylistic quality of a documentary, and that gives it a kind of immediacy and power that is very effective.”
Penn explained that another reason why the movie continues to resonate with audiences today is that much of the political chaos that took place during the Vietnam War era occurs in different forms. “The Vietnam War era was such a massive failure of United States foreign policy,” he said. “It opened the door to many horrors, including the astonishing loss of life for both the Vietnamese people and the Cambodian people. It threw the door open to political and social chaos that cost millions of people their lives. To me, it feels like that sort of political chaos is very much a theme that is at the forefront of our minds in this day and age. There are so many governments, including our own, that are creating chaos globally.”
Penn said that he intends to talk with Waterston about his experiences in making the film, and also what he was able to glean from the real Schanberg. “I also will talk to him about the making of this film and if it was a brutal physical and emotional journey,” Penn said. “We’re going to be talking about what the journey was like when it came to filming this movie.”
Penn added that it would be impossible to create “The Killing Fields” in this modern era of filmmaking.
“Any film that would be critical of the United States at this moment would be hard to make,” Penn said. “Too many film studios are owned by massive corporate conglomerates. For example, Paramount Pictures is owned by a much bigger corporation. I don’t think movie studios seem that interested in making socially aware films. They are much more interested in making star-driven movies. I think that even Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese would have problems in trying to get socially aware films.”
Tickets to the June 7 screening are $60. Visit The Triplex’s website for more information.
