View Trailer HERE
In
French with English subtitles. There is a profound and delicate humanity in Rithy
Panh’s telling of what, for most, is unimaginable: the atrocities that were
suffered by people like Panh and his family under the Pol Pot regime in
Cambodia in the seventies. Many pictures are missing from that time, though
footage of Khmer Rouge propaganda tells a particularly glorified version of the
story. Yet through his words and images, he fills in the gaps of history:
partly, by creating simple carved clay figures placed on dioramas that
represent scenes that exist in memory but not in pictures— the rice fields, the
camps, the summary executions. And therein lies the brilliance of Panh’s
achievement. Somehow, through these rudimentary miniatures and their enactment
of his story, he allows us to witness the human experience below the surface of
this tragedy with an incredible compassion. The Missing Picture won the
top prize in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
—Zoë
Elton