film reviews by teens

L'image Manquante

The Missing Picture

The missing picture deals with the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia. More than 2 million Cambodian died. Rithy Panh, the director was only a child when it happened, and he tries to remember his destroyed childhood by making this very personal movie. He depicts his childhood by using small clay figurines to represent his family and himself, and a voice-over which is meant to be his voice (but it isn't actually him). There is footage from the genocide in the background. One of the main elements of this film is the wave coming back over and over, which represents his memories reappearing throughout his adult life.

I didn't really enjoy this movie, it was a bit off-putting. The music creeped me out, it sounded like flies flying above dead bodies (which was made on purpose). This movie was well-made because you could almost feel the heat and the smell of rotting flesh at some point.