Search - INSIDE POL POT'S SECRET PRISON on DVD

The best of the worst

LBD | Denver, CO | 08/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There have been several documentaries regarding Pol Pot and the infamous prison S21 over the years, including a few from the History Channel. From all I've seen this is the best. It's not a straight documentary. Instead it features the now popular "Ken Burns" style of expert commentary throughout, helping the viewer to put the images into context. The inclusion of two of the survivors offering their own account puts a human face upon the issue of genocide. Be warned, this is certainly one of the most disturbing hours of television I've ever witnessed. However, I didn't get the impression the show tried to shock simply for the sake of it. The horrors of Pol Pot and S21 can't be presented in any other way, but this program tries hard to present it as logically and factually as possible, without sugar coating the extreme content. Highly recommended."

A different perspective

Noname | 04/17/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I did not get a chance to see "Inside Pol Pot's Secret Prison" when it first aired. When I saw this on Amazon, I had to get it. I am fascinated by the killing fields in Cambodia, because it is so difficult for me to understand how such a thing could happen. Most of the stories I've read are accounts by survivors. What I was most interested in are accounts by the Khmer Rouge members themselves, because many of them were so young.

"Inside Pol Pot's Secret Prison" was the first time I've ever seen any interviews with former Khmer Rouge members. How did they become members? What did they think when they were there? How do they feel now?

The Khmer Rouge guards were forced, like the child soldiers in Africa -- do what they are told or they would be next. I am not sure if I could fault them. The fear was immense, especially for a child watching the horrors before them. However, it bothers me that they appear to have no remorse, no guilt. Maybe internally, they do. Maybe they suppress it, lest it be too difficult to live with themselves. Maybe participating in the tortures and killings made them numb.

Also included in the documentary are film clips of the secret prison just after the fall of Cambodia to Vietnam. It was a place of torture, where the Khmer Rouge extracted confessions and then murdered the victims. There were photos of the victims, skeletons everywhere, drawings of the tortures.

Survivors of the prison were interviewed. Each had his own horrific story. No human should have to endure what they did.

The documentary was well done. It focuses mostly on the condition in the prison and not so much the work conditions and lives of the people working in the fields. Given such few survivors, the prison tales are the least often told. "Inside Pol Pot's Secret Prison" gives the viewer a fresh perspective on the Khmer Rouge and the killing fields."