Movies Similar to Bophana: A Cambodian Tragedy

Defending Brother No.2(2017)

Two Dutch lawyers, Michiel Pestman and Victor Koppe, travel to Cambodia in 2011 to defend Nuon Chea in an international tribunal. Nuon Chea, also known as Brother No. 2, was the second man after Pol Pot in the Khmer Rouge regime. He is being charged with mass murder and crimes against humanity. For four years, the documentary follows the lawyers in their attempt to give this man a fair trial, but the UN tribunal is beset by local interests and a government which consists partly of other former members of the Khmer Rouge who would really like all of the blame to rest solely on the defendant. What should've been the crowning achievement in the careers of the lawyers turns out very different.

0.0

S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine(2003)

Documentary of the S-21 genocide prison in Phnom Penh with interviews of prisoners and guards. On the search for reasons why this could have happened.

7.4

The Last Season(2014)

In search of the lucrative matsutake mushroom, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war. Roger, a self-described 'fall-down drunk' and sniper in Vietnam, and Kouy, a Cambodian refugee who fought the Khmer Rouge, bonded in the bustling tent-city known as Mushroom Camp, which pops up each autumn in the Oregon woods. Their friendship became an adoptive family; according to a Cambodian custom, if you lose your family like Kouy, you must rebuilt it anew. Now, however, this new family could be lost. Roger's health is declining and trauma flashbacks rack his mind; Kouy gently aids his family before the snow falls and the hunting season ends, signaling his time to leave.

5.8

The Donut King(2020)

Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy builds a multi-million dollar empire by baking America's favourite pastry: the doughnut.

7.0

The Missing Picture(2013)

Rithy Panh uses clay figures, archival footage, and his narration to recreate the atrocities Cambodia's Khmer Rouge committed between 1975 and 1979.

7.1

Rain Falls from Earth: Surviving Cambodia's Darkest Hour

On April 17, 1975, the face of Cambodia would forever be changed. As Khmer Rouge soldiers marched into the capital city of Phnom Penh, the unsuspecting people of Cambodia had little idea they would be forced into a living nightmare that would last nearly four years. Rain Falls From Earth is a story of courage, a story of survival and a story of eventual triumph over the Communist regime that was responsible for the deaths of over two million people. The voices of many Cambodians are heard as they convey their thoughts, ideas and emotions - the very things they were forced to abandon in the "killing fields" of Cambodia. Their stories are an eyewitness account to genocide.

0.0

Cambodia, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge(2011)

Between April, 1975 and January, 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people in Cambodia. A quarter of the population were wiped out in one of the most brutal and virulent genocides of the twentieth century. This new film explores the life of Pol Pot, the ever-smiling, obsessively secretive leader of the Khmer Rouge. What drove him to inflict such a radical experiment on his own people? How did the Khmer Rouge turn from a band of nationalist revolutionaries into a ruthless killing machine? And why did the West stand by and let it happen?  As an international tribunal in Cambodia finally brings the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge to justice, it's time to re-examine the gruesome legacy of Pol Pot.

0.0

Mayor of Lowell(2025)

This short documentary chronicles the culture and arts of Cambodian Americans and the Lowell, MA community through the eyes of Sokhary Chau, the first Cambodian American Mayor in the United States. Chau immigrated to the U.S. at seven years old to escape the Khmer Rouge genocide. Through this unique story that showcases the best of Lowell—immigrant success, assimilation, history, and the development of the arts—we see a man born into a war-torn country who comes to America to be a first-in-the-nation leader.

0.0

Familienlos(2023)

The story of Thun Chay, a Cambodian who was left behind by his mother in a refugee camp during their escape from the Red Khmer and the civil war in their home country.

0.0

Site 2(1989)

After having fled Pol Pot, Rithy Panh, a 15 year old Cambodian finds refuge at the Mairut camp in Thailand, in 1979. Ten years later, now a filmmaker, he returns to the camps to film the daily life of this threatened people. The peoples he meets, eaten away by inactivity, insecutity and the fear of being forgotten, have been waiting for a possible return to Cambodia.

0.0

No image

Cambodia/Kampuchea(1986)

CAMBODIA/KAMPUCHEA draws on unique propaganda film and archival material from the Khmer Rouge, Vietnam and other sources. This is set against the grim realities of the Kampuchean tragedy. As a continuing theme, the film features exclusive interviews with Prince Sihanouk, who offers explanations for and insights into the role he has played in the fate of his luckless country. This definitive film study delves to the roots of the conflict, making sense of the madness, the politics and contradictions. It captures the epic spirit and passions of a people when a whole world is overturned.

0.0

No image

Kampuchea inför kriget(1978)

Documentary about Cambodia featuring a long interview with Pol Pot

0.0

Cambodia: The Prince And The Prophecy(1986)

CAMBODIA: THE PRINCE AND THE PROPHECY explores the years of Prince Norodom Sihanouk’s rule, his juggling for peace, his charisma and contradictions. Following the Prince’s overthrow in 1970, the film traces Cambodia’s destruction during the five years of war before Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge came to power and launched their revolution… As a central theme, the film and its sequel CAMBODIA/KAMPUCHEA feature exclusive interviews with Prince Sihanouk, and focus on his pivotal role in shaping Cambodia’s fate.

0.0

Side by Side(2021)

Through daily routines in a rural village, an indigenous elder couple recall their strange marriage to their grand-daughter, and sometimes to each other, in the changing rhythm of nature around them.

6.0

No image

Red Wedding(2012)

Between 1975 and 1979, at least 250,000 Cambodian women were forced into marriages by the Khmer Rouge. Sochan was one of them. At the age of 16, she was forced to marry a soldier who raped her. After 30 years of silence, Sochan decided to bring her case to the international tribunal set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

0.0

Kampuchea: The Untold Story(1985)

After seeing his parents and grandmother killed by the Vietnamese, a 12 year old Khmer boy flees with his baby sister in an attempt to reach safety in Thailand. On the way he befriends a group of Khmer fighters.

0.0

The Gate(2014)

Two decades after forging an unlikely alliance in Pol Pot's Cambodia, a French ethnologist and a former Khmer Rouge official meet again after the latter is arrested for crimes against humanity.

6.0

Funan(2019)

Cambodia, once the ancient kingdom of Funan, April 17th, 1975. The entire country falls under the tyranny of Angkar, the communist party of the Khmer Rouge. The cities are abandoned, the population is thrown to the roads and forced to walk towards an uncertain future…

6.9

Blank Page(1991)

Vixna and her two children are lured from the safety of Paris by her husband, a officer in Pol Pot's army, back to Cambodia where they undergo brainwashing and enslavement by the Khmer Rouge.

6.0

Nine Circles of Hell(1988)

As the Khmer Rouge carves a path of death throughout the land, a Czech doctor falls in love with a Cambodian woman. Their relationship, though sorely strained by the war's horrors, produces a child. The doctor is separated from his family once Pol Pot assumes control.

5.4