QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM MALTA

Largely based on true events, and blending elements of fiction and documentary, Rithy Panh’s new creation makes for a fascinating and uncomfortable viewing experience. The 60-year-old artist – the most widely-acclaimed Cambodian filmmaker in the world – takes viewers on a bumpy journey of his native country in the year of 1978, at the height of the Khmer Rouge (the ultra-authoritarian communist regime that ruled the Asian country in the late 1970s, and renamed it “Democratic Kampuchea”). Pol Pot personally oversaw the systematic killing of nearly two million people, roughly a quarter of the country’s population. The story is based on Elizabeth Becker’s When the War Was Over, a detailed witness account and in-depth expose of the atrocities through the eyes of an experienced journalist.

Without delving into the figures, and avoiding didacticism, Meeting with Pol Pot provides a poignant and terrifying picture of unrestrained authoritarianism. French journalists Elise Delbo (Irene Jacob), Alain Cariou (Gregoire Colin) and photojournalist Paul Thomas (Cyril Guei) fly to the Southeast Asian country at the request of the regime. They were lured by the promise of an esxclusive interview with the much-feared dictator. Well, if something sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. They learn it the hard way that narcissistic despots with vast amounts of blood running down their hands are not to be trusted. Alain dances to the tune of the regime, convinced that his alleged communist inclinations will earn him friends. The more pragmatic Elise and the timid Paul remain a lot more cautious.

A picture often says more than 1,000 words, which may explain why the photojournalist is the most vulnerable of the three. This is not North Korea, where the government has carefully manicured parts of the Pyongyang, where they can take tourists and journalists. The widespread poverty and destruction are impossible to hide here, and Paul proceeds to document them with his camera. From inside a government vehicle, the three French journalists see crumbling buildings and cracked pavements. Archive footage from the 1970s is mixed with the partly fictionalised story. The director makes no attempt to blend the texture of the images, instead allowing their contrast to prevail. The old and grainy pictures and videos are viewed from the perspective of the protagonists, as if they were capturing these images with their very own eyes. On top of that, some of the settings are recreated in miniature model format, complete with papier mâché proxies of the hapless foreigners. Simple and yet effective technical devices.

What follows is a battle of idealism and realism. Elise embodies the most noble values of journalism. She is ethical and resilient. She is determined to conduct an impartial interview with Pol Pot to the best of her abilities. Naivety leads her to believe that they could even locate some missing friends in the capital Phnom Penh. It may be too late before she realises that her ambitions are not entirely practical. Instead of seeing the real Pol Pot, it is often one of the enormous posters of his brushed-up face that she comes across. It becomes increasingly clear that is impossible to reconcile journalism and propaganda. So she becomes disillusioned. This is a jarring representation of journalistic impossibilities, of what it means to give up your press ideals under extreme circumstances (everything Alex Garland sets out to do in this year’s Civil War, and failed miserably to achieve).

Images of the mutilated bodies of the genocide victims punctuate the film, a blood-curdling harbinger of the possible fate of our three defenceless protagonists. The outcome is a sinister and exquisite thriller, borrowing devices from documentary practices (something Rithy Panh does in most of his films). A political thriller that grips viewers with subtle suspense devices, instead of the more familiar bang-bang and silly car chases. It feels palpably real.

Meeting with Pol Pot is in the Official Competition of the 2nd Mediterrane Film Festival, in Malta.