Cambodia: The Betrayal (1990)

With Cambodia still recovering from the traumas of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government that saw hundreds of thousands of citizens killed, journalist John Pilger has returned to investigate rumours that he, now exiled in neighbouring Thailand, is plotting to return and reclaim power. Those allegations are not so surprising, what is, though, is the suggestion that his organisation is being resourced indirectly by the West. Despite denials from Washington, London and Berlin the evidence uncovered by his research indicates that weaponry was being supplied, via third party licencees, to forces loyal to Pol Pot. Using some pretty potent archive and especially shot footage, this commentary shows us a largely agrarian population trying to deal with the effects of the brutal and indiscriminate attacks using bullets, bombs and landmines all whilst politicians used them as pawns in a grander game of geopolitics. It's a shocking film to watch; one that is clearly a subject very close to the narrator's heart and so at times it could be doing with a degree of counter-balancing from those whom he accuses to give it more weight than a journalistic labour of love - but, of course, nobody was talking citing denials or official secrecy. This is a provocative feature that brings home the truly abhorrent nature of modern warfare and it is worth an hour.