Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia

John Pilger travels to Cambodia and alerts the world to Pol Pot’s bloody reign. As the first comprehensive report of the atrocities perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge and the disastrous effects of US bombing in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, Year Zero is an important and historic record of the horrific rule of Pol Pot and of the world’s indifference and inaction.

Year Zero was 1975. It was the end of the secret US bombing campaign against the Viet Cong, which saw 100,000 tons of bombs dropped over Cambodia, and the emergence of the Khmer Rouge as a ruling force. That year saw the evacuation of the capital, Phnom Penh, along with the displacement of some 2.5 million people, the majority of whom would soon go missing. Pilger investigates the roots of the US bombing campaign that began in 1969, contrasting it sharply with powerful footage of starving and ill Cambodians, and interviews with relief workers from UNICEF and the Red Cross, as well as imprisoned members of Pol Pot’s regime.

For many, this film was the first glimpse of a harrowing injustice. Pilger lays bare the chain of events, from the removal of King Norodom Sihanouk to genocide under the Khmer Rouge and the ensuing famine. The film is both disturbing and emotional, a sobering portrait of Cambodia’s recent history.