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S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
First Run Features

S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 75 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
N/A out of 10
based on 12 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 0 votes
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Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

In 1975-79, the Khmer Rouge waged a campaign of genocide on Cambodia’s population. 1.7 million Cambodians lost their lives to famine and murder as the urban population was forced into the countryside to fulfill the Khmer Rouges' dream of an agrarian utopia. In S21, Panh brings two survivors back to the notorious Tuol Sleng prison (code-named "S21"), now a genocide museum where former Khmer Rouge are employed as guides. (First Run Features)


GENRE(S): Documentary  
WRITTEN BY: Rithy Panh  
DIRECTED BY: Rithy Panh  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 24, 2005 
Theatrical: May 19, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 101 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Cambodia / France  
LANGUAGE(S): Khmer / Vietnamese (with English subtitles) 

François Chalais Award, 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Golden Plaque (Best Documentary), 2003 Chicago International Film Festival; Best Documentary Award, 2003 European Film Awards

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The result is a history lesson both invaluable and horrific.
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Yet S21, unlike many documentaries about the Nazi era, isn't a sickening panorama of brutality. Shot on video, it's quiet and intimate.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Modest but nonetheless devastating documentary.
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80
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Cinema at its most intellectually honest and morally necessary.
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80
Village Voice J. Hoberman
S21 is understated and unforgettable; in its modest way, this movie is as horrific an exposure to evil as Lanzmann's "Shoah."
Read Full Review
80
TV Guide Ken Fox
Shattering documentary.
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80
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Mr. Rithy Panh makes telling use of a survivor whose ability to communicate lends itself to the subject. The tragedy is that Mr. Vann Nath's powers are used to illuminate these horrors.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post V.A. Musetto
Man's inhumanity to man is gruesomely detailed in S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine.
Read Full Review
70
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
A harrowing, unblinking look at the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge, the genocidal regime that by some accounts killed off more than a quarter of Cambodia's population between 1975 and 1979.
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60
Chicago Reader Richard M. Porton
The efforts of victims and victimizers to come to terms with historical trauma are admirable, but the film is too tough-minded to espouse a facile discourse of "healing" in the face of genocide driven by ideology run amok.
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60
Film Threat Phil Hall
This is clearly not a pleasant film to watch on many levels.
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50
Variety Derek Elley
There's no shortage of existing docus on the subject, and Panh's doesn't bring either a fresh enough angle or enough new material to the table to justify its length.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 0.0 (out of 10) based on 0 User Votes
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