The
history of Communism is littered with mass graves, from the Holodomor in
Ukraine to the Killing Fields of Cambodia. Coming to terms with the past is
particularly difficult in the Southeast Asian country for at least two reasons.
For one thing, the Khmer Rouge is still in power. They simply changed their
name and rebranded themselves. Even more troubling for families, the lack of
proper burials makes it nearly impossible to hold the Buddhist rituals
necessary to help loved ones move on with their after-life. Acclaimed filmmaker
Rithy Panh searches for his father’s earthly remains in the meditative
documentary, Graves Without a Name, which releases today on DVD.
Even
though they often focus on the crushing enormity of the Cambodian genocide, Panh’s
documentaries tend to be acutely personal in scope. In The Missing Piece,
his defining masterwork (thus far), Panh told his family’s tragic history with
carved wooden figurines. Graves is possibly even more personal, but less
narrative-driven. We watch as Panh undergoes purification ceremonies to prepare
him for further rites that will hopefully lead to the location of his father’s
body. However, it seems there is just too much mournful static around the work
camp where his father was executed.
In
between rituals, Panh intersperses long-take interviews with genocide
survivors. One was a peasant “Old Person,” who initially fought with the Khmer
Rouge before becoming sickened by their torture, rape, and mass murder. The
other was a much abused and despised “New Person” from the city. Both give
harrowing testimony in a matter-of-fact tone produced by their resignation they
will never see justice done in their lifetimes.
There
have been many documentaries produced on the Cambodian genocide (several of
them by Panh), but the crimes described in Without a Name still pack a
visceral punch. At times, Panh’s closeness to the subject matter leads to a
slight blurriness of focus and Randal Douc’s French narration is undeniably
overwritten, but the power of this film remains raw and immediate.
Throughout
the film, Panh and co-cinematographer Prum Mesa prove the haunting power of
starkly simple images. Without a Name directly relates to the multimedia
requiem documented in Aviva Ziegler’s Wandering Souls, which Panh
collaborated on. However, Ziegler’s doc was largely a work of reportage (albeit
one of importance), whereas Without a Name is a deeper, more unified
cinematic statement.
Graves
Without a Name is
yet another reminder of what happens when ideologies that oppress the individual
in the name of the collective take over the reins of state power. It bears
repeating: capitalism is a human right. Highly recommended for its truth and
artistry, Rithy Panh’s Graves Without a Name releases today on DVD.
