film reviews by teens

L'Image Manquante

The Missing Picture

« The Missing Picture » is a movie made in 2013 by Cambodian film maker Rithy Panh. The film is about the Khmer Rouge domination in Cambodia from 1974 to 1979. This period is seen through the eyes of director Rithy Panh who was a child back then, but he still faced directly the consequences of this Revolution. The voice speaking throughout the movie is a Cambodian man reciting a long monologue written by the movie director. The film is made out of various visual elements : clay figurines, images of the sea, images from archives... All these bits and pieces put together along with the voice-off create a very special movie. It explains as precisely as possible the terrible period that the Khmer Rouge domination was for the Cambodian nation, and for Rithy Panh himself as a survivor of this atrocious time. Death, hunger, poverty, executions, forced labour... all scarred the director for the rest of his life.

I thought this movie was very poetic but also very simple and straight-forward. Sometimes it seemed a little bit childish even though the movie deals with an extremely serious situation. I was fascinated and very intrigued by this movie.

Overall, I think that Rithy Panh achieved his goal to make the world see and understand what Cambodian people have been through during the Khmer Rouge domination. “The Missing Picture” is a very touching yet mysterious movie that does not resemble any other movie.