In these past months leading up to my departure, I've been trying to read a lot about the countries I'll be visiting (because, you know, I wanna turn up to these places feeling like a have a bit of background knowledge...) The history of South-East Asia is fascinating and there's so much I just had absolutely no clue about. Like, I knew there was some sort of huge genocide that happened in Cambodia a while back, but since booking my travels, I've been inspired to find out more.
A few weeks ago, I finished reading the heart-wrenching memoir First they Killed my Father by Loung Ung and wow... I think I felt every single type of emotion you can feel whilst reading a book. At points, I was moved to tears, and at these points, I also happened to be on public transport. I managed to keep it together (barely), but I think I must have gotten some weird stares when I took a deep breath and started blinking loads because my eyes were welling up.
From 1975 to 1979, Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Rouge, a brutal regime led by the marxist dictator Pol Pot. Around May 1970, the Vietnam war engulfed Cambodia. President Nixon sent troops from South Vietnam to Cambodia to attack what he described as "the headquarters for the entire Communist military operation in South Vietnam".
Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/01/archives/nixon-sends-combat-forces-to-cambodia-not-an-invasion-president.html)
President Nixon claimed that it wasn't really an invasion of Cambodia, and that the Americans were simply helping the Cambodians to help themselves. The problem was that many casualties were innocent Cambodians including children. Things were a mess and the Cambodian people were pissed off because the bombings meant that a lot of life and farm land were lost. As a result, many Cambodians turned to the Khmer Rouge, a new powerful organisation that promised to reclaim Cambodia as a nation and fight against Western powers. But the Khmer Rouge were extremely brutal and would kill anyone who they thought went against their beliefs.
In these 4 years, up to 2 million people were killed, meaning the Khmer Rouge was pretty much responsible for the worst genocide of the 20th century. Pol Pot had this insanely messed up idea that he wanted to create a master race that was purely Cambodian and free from any western influence, or any other country for that matter. This meant that those who had other nationalities in their blood and those who were educated and influenced by western modernisation were seen as a threat to the new political regime. Many died from starvation and disease whilst others were taken by Khmer Rouge soldiers and killed in mass executions. When learning about histories like these, it's almost hard to imagine that such evil can exist in our world. But it does, and it sucks, and it will continue to exist because the human race can be pretty messed up at times.
Written in present tense from the perspective of a child, First they Killed my Father highlights the overwhelming pain and suffering faced by Cambodians under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. Back then, children's opinions and feelings weren't really taken into consideration and girls were taught to keep quiet if they wanted to be seen as respectable. Loung Ung's writing is filled with deep emotional intensity as she gives the child figure a voice. Loung Ung wanted to remind us that a child's life can be affected by suffering just as much as an adult's. She was tired of hearing people say that she was lucky to be young when it happened. Just because she was young, the memories of the pain are still unbearable. I highly recommend this book and have so much respect towards Loung Ung for her immense hope, strength and courage. Also, hats off to Angelina for directing such an incredible film (the book is obviously slightly better), but I was really impressed by the beautiful cinematography and how the story was told. It's on Netflix so definitely go check it out! I don't want to give anything away if some of you haven't read the book or seen the film yet, so yeah, go read and watch! You won't regret it.
Has anyone else seen the film or read this book? Let me know and leave your thoughts below!
Comments