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S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine

EMAILPRINTFirst Run Features

S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine reviews
75
N/A User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 12 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 0 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by: Rithy Panh

Directed by: Rithy Panh

Release Date:
Theatrical: May 19, 2004
DVD: May 24, 2005

Running Time: 101 minutes, Color

Origin: Cambodia / France

Summary

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)

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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Man's inhumanity to man is gruesomely detailed in S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine.

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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

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

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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