Netflix Original #13 - First They Killed My Father

First They Killed My Father

Director - Angelina Jolie

Writers - Loung Ung and Angelina Jolie

Starring - Sareum Srey Moch, Phoeung Kompheak, Sveng Socheata

Ladies and gentlemen, Anthony Dod Mantle. The MVP of this film is the cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle. Not only is the best looking film Netflix has released, it is one of the best looking films of the year. Dod Mantle imbues this story of a family's struggles to survive after the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia with a Malickian sense of serene grace. Dod Mantle, best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, Rush, 127 Hours, and 28 Days Later, displays soulful qualities here not present in his previous work. The Ung family, in particular, Loung (Srey Moch) is filmed almost with angelic auras surrounding them. This is incredibly effective at showcasing the sharp contrast between Luong's childlike innocence and the bloody rule of the Khmer Rouge. It is a shame that Jolie cannot quite turn these images into the arresting film the story demands.

Angelina Jolie shows some impressive directorial chops but doesn't quite have the talent to make this film, with this cinematography, into the great film it could be. She lets the grace bleed out from the family a little too much resulting in a softening of the edges. The work camp the family lives in feels like a bad summer camp, not the brutal, deadly camp it truly is. This could be played as childhood innocence viewing things as Loung is the main character and the world is viewed through her eyes but when Jolie attempts to display the horrors of the camps and the breaking up of the family it lacks the brutality is requires to fully land. At a later point in the film Loung is being trained as a child soldier with the routine frankness of a montage of camp activities. This stark portrayal is an interesting choice but Jolie is not able to pull it off. Her directorial abilities are also completely undercut by her lack of talent as a screenwriter.

First They Killed My Father is based on the memoirs of Loung Ung. It is the story of her family after the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and expelled her family from their comfortable living in Phnom Penh and travel to a series of increasingly brutal work camps. This is the outline of a great, compelling, heartbreaking story but the details never feel like they get filled in. The family members are reduced to mere roles (mother, father, brother(s), sister(s)) and none of their tormentors are even given names. Now that latter point could be an intentional statement on the blank face of brutality the Ung family suffered under but it comes across as just weak writing, especially when combined with the lack of depth given to the main characeters. Even Loung herself remains an essentially blank slate the entire film. Sareum Srey Moch is fantastic in the role but character often feels like they are just wandering around experiencing a series of events. The script is never able to make the viewer forget that Loung survives everything and lives to write the story. It never successfully creates a sense of danger around Loung, instead it feels like she has a safety net surrounding her.

First They Killed My Father is a phenomenally shot film that is adequately directed but completely lacking on a script level. Anthony Dod Mantle does the best work of his career and continues Jolie's recent penchant for working with talented cinematographers (Christian Berger and Roger Deakins shot her previous two films) but is let down by Jolie's abilities to handle the imagery. Jolie herself is in turn let down by herself (and Loung) as the script seems content to present the incredible story of survival as a rough outline, never filling in the depth needed to make this a great movie.

Schurmann Score - 7/10

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