CAMBODIANS ABANDON AMNESIA IN DON’T THINK I’VE FORGOTTEN
A documentary of the musical history of Cambodia from 1954 to 1975, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten traces the country’s music stars until most die in the Pol Pot era. Directed by John Pirozzi, Cambodia is depicted as a musical capital of Southeast Asia, with Prince Sihanouk as one of the singing stars. Film footage and posters of the past are embedded in the fast-moving narrative. At the same time, the film contains a history of modern Cambodia, with occasional remarks by Professor David Chandler. Music is said to be closer to the people than politicians, and the style of music reflects outside influences as well as the political history of the country. Thus, the Khmer Rouge realized that they could most effectively change the country’s culture by eliminating past musical hits and requiring stars to offer politically correct dullness. There is a gap between what the movie identifies as the “liberation” in 1979 by Vietnamese troops and the present, when the music industry is reappearing, albeit only with memories of the past. The film makes the point that the coup of pro-American military in 1970 encouraged the Khmer Rouge, and American bombing of the Khmer Rouge strengthened their support because indiscriminate bombing of civilians, who did not understand why they were being attacked, left the people no other patriotic choice. (In fact, the bombing continued after the Khmer Rouge won the Cambodian civil war until November 1975, when the War Powers Act was passed.) Perspicacious viewers may infer that Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten also implies that American bombing of North Vietnam also sealed the fate of South Vietnam, a scenario now being repeated within several countries of the Middle East. That thesis is presented in Good Kill. MH
GOOD KILL ESTABLISHES THE TITLE AS AN OXYMORON
Few anti-war films about Vietnam occurred until after the American military pulled out. The same appears to be the case with the “war on terror,” which (according to one line in the film) is doing as well as the “war on drugs.” But Good Kill, an anti-war film, is not of the caliber of an Oliver Stone blockbuster and has attracted much fewer filmviewers than the pro-war Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Directed and written by Andrew Niccol, Good Kill begins with a “successful” drone strike identified as a “good kill” by protagonist Major Thomas Egan (played by Ethan Hawke), who goes home after work to his family in suburban Las Vegas with a dour disposition that fails to please his wife Molly (January Jones). His commander, Lt. Col. Jack Johns (Bruce Greenwood), is committed to his role but is fully aware that the targets being bombed that have little military significance. Filmviewers are exposed to about ten drone strikes before the film ends along with lines so propagandistically anti-war that the message comes across very preachy amid a story that is increasingly predictable and dull. “Signature strikes,” which begin when the drone unit’s superiors are transferred from the military to the CIA, are identified as drone kills where none of the targeted persons are known but just seem suspicious. Nobody answers when Air Force officer Vera Suarez (Zoë Kravitz) asks, “What that a war crime?” Johns and others utter rationalizations (“better to kill one suspicious person than allow him to kill one American in New York”) to drive home the point of the absurdity and counterproductive nature of the drone attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere. MH