Movie summary: First they killed my father

 First they killed my father

(Photo courtesy of Netflix) 

It is a historical movie which depicts the horrific period in Cambodian history: Khmer Rouge. (1975-1979)

It is based on a true story of a daughter of Cambodia. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her father worked for Lon Nol government. Then Khmer Rouge took over and the nightmare began. Like other families in the city, her family had to move to the rural area and did manual work. All properties were left behind and no luxurious items should be seen by Khmer Rouge soldiers.

Poverty and hunger
The protagonist, only 6-7 years old at the time, had to join the force like other children and work on the field. They had to do heavy manual labor without having enough food to eat.

Scattered families
Her father got killed. He was called off on a duty and he never came back. Her mother was afraid that her children would have the same fate so she demanded them to scatter in different directions so that "even one is caught, others get a chance to survive". After she and her siblings left home, her mother and youngest daughter were killed.

Labor camps
She and her sister asked to join a labor camp under the guise of orphans. They still suffered hunger and they had to work harder than before. All of the crops produced were taken away from them and traded off for weapons to support Khmer Roughe.

Child soldiers
In addition to working on the field, children had to join the training course in order to become child soldiers. During the day, they learnt to lay anti-personnel mines, use guns and do martial arts. The mines were to keep Vietcong soldiers off the field but later they killed Cambodians who ran off when Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese army fought against each other. At night, they were brainwashed by speeches in praise of Khmer Rouge (Democratic Kampuchea) and they were taught to harbor relentless hate towards Vietnamese.

War and Peace
Vietnamese soldiers came to fight against Khmer Rouge and help the civilians under the cruel regime. The siblings got together. The movie ends with the scene where the siblings prayed to their deceased parents at a temple.

The movie was touching. I don't say it was a tearjerker but it did make me cry.

This summary was written in May 2020. =))