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YEAR ZERO: THE SILENT DEATH OF CAMBODIA (TV)

Summary

This program, narrated by "Daily Mirror" reporter John Pilger, surveys the devastating results of civil war in Cambodia. The program includes interviews, archival footage and photographs, in addition to current documentation of Cambodian life. Pilger explains that in 1969, President Richard Nixon and his Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry Kissinger, secretly decided to bomb extensively in Cambodia. He also states that this bombing contributed to a destabilization of the country, and an eventual coup by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Scenes from 1979 of the deserted streets of Phnom Penh are compared to footage of the bustling capital in 1967. Also included are film clips of former leader Norodom Sihanouk. Pilger then visits sites that illustrate the damage wreaked by U.S. bombing and Pol PotÕs regime, such as the destroyed National Library, a series of broken Buddhist shrines, and the former site of a Catholic church. He then speaks with a United Nations Children's Fund (U.N.I.C.E.F) representative who refers to the vast famine that threatens the Cambodian population and the supplies that relief agencies aren't offering to the people of Cambodia. Next, an examination of Pol PotÕs rise to power and of his domestic policies is presented . Pilger visits an old concentration camp where he speaks with a woman who survived the Khmer RougeÕs forced agrarian labor system; he also speaks with a concentration camp survivor who describes the torture and murder conducted throughout the camps. Pilger talks to two captured Khmer Rouge soldiers who provide information about the mass murders committed by their army. Photographs of tortured or slain prisoners and mass graves are shown, in addition to footage of refugees evacuated from Phnom Penh and workers in a labor camp. Then Pilger visits a hospital in Phnom Penh where two European doctors discuss the epidemic malnutrition and related diseases in the city, as well the reasoning of foreign relief agencies which refuse to provide food and medical supplies to Cambodia. Pilger also visits an orphanage and a school where there are adequate resouces for children. The program concludes with an an outline of the relations between Cambodia and Vietnam, and Pilger's closing remarks, which indicate that western nations that refuse to provide aid to Cambodia are criminally neglient.

Details

  • NETWORK: ATV (United Kingdom)
  • DATE: November 30, 1978
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:52:30
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T81:0552
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Cambodia - History - Civil War, 1970-1975; Cambodia - History - Secret bombing, 1969-1970; International Collection - United Kingdom; Prisoners of war
  • SERIES RUN: ATV (United Kingdom) - TV, 1979
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • David I. Munro … Producer, Director
  • Nicholas Claxton … Researcher
  • John Pilger … Reporter
  • Henry Kissinger
  • Richard M. Nixon
  • Pol Pot
  • Norodom Sihanouk