The Missing Picture (2013)
Rithy Panh redefines Cambodian cinema and history through this harrowing mixed media memory
8.2
Movie
Belgium, Cambodia
French
Animation, Documentary
2013
RITHY PANH
Jean-Baptiste Phou, Randal Douc
95 min
8.2
The Staff
TLDR
This is one-of-a-kind filmmaking here.
What it's about
Between 1975-1979, Cambodia was ruled by the Communist Party of Kampuchea, most commonly known as the Khmer Rouge. Through clay figures hand-in-hand with scarce archival materials, filmmaker Rithy Panh recreates his childhood during the time.
The take
The medium of cinema has been used as a tool for revolution, but so too was it complicit in genocide. That was true of the Khmer Rouge regime, as the remaining footage of the time came entirely from the state, to be used in re-education programs and propaganda to hide the difficult realities caused by the administration. In response, three decades later, documentarian Rithy Panh reclaims the medium, juxtaposing archival footage of Pol Pot’s programs and Cambodia before, with clay figurines formed from his memories. It’s a grim recollection, but The Missing Picture takes back cinema to keep a collective memory that must be preserved.
What stands out
The idea of the video camera as truthful is challenged here as filmed propaganda is compared to Panh’s recreated memories on clay, way before this technique was used in other films.
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