How does one depict a genocide such as that inflicted by the Khmer Rouge on the Cambodian people? Some — such as Rithy Pahn, who used clay figures rather than actors for the reenactments in his Oscar-nominated documentary “The Missing Piece” — would argue that to do so is to empower the perpetrators, to exploit the victims, and potentially to reduce the atrocities to a form of spectacle.
And yet, the world must not be allowed to forget.
By embracing hand-drawn animation as a tool for tactful re-creation, “Funan” director Denis Do provides audiences a unique window into this relatively under-represented 20th-century horror, one that serves as an act of witnessing even as it avoids directly showing the violence on-screen.
Read the full story: https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/funan-review-1202988480/
