1. The Killing Fields depicts the history of Cambodia from the viewpoint of a U.S. news reporter. What are the advantages of this perspective? What are the disadvantages?
   
   What was Sydney Schanberg's objective in telling this story?
   
   Do you think Dith Pran would tell it differently? How?


2. How does this movie describe U.S. foreign policy in Cambodia?
   
   From the words of military officials, political leaders, and the journalists in the film, how would you explain United States intervention in Cambodia?
   
   Why was the U.S. war in Cambodia kept secret from the U.S. public?
   
   Partly in response to the war in Cambodia, the U.S. Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1975. How might Cambodia have benefited from that legislation?


3. How does the film describe the Khmer Rouge?
   
   Why did the Khmer Rouge give preferences to young people?


4. Why was the Khmer Rouge able to defeat the government in 1975?
   
   Why did the new regime insist on evacuating the city?


5. What did the Khmer Rouge mean by "memory sickness"?
   
   What was the cure for this sickness?
   
   How did the Khmer Rouge justify its regime?


6. According to the movie, what is the proper role of journalists in wartime?
   
   Should journalists report only what the military wants reported?
   
   Are journalists primarily responsible to their government or to their readers? Why?
   
   Are Schanberg's criticisms of U.S. policy valid?


7. The concept of "Year Zero" suggests that "everything is to start anewÉnothing has gone before."
   
   Is that a valid concept for starting a new government? Why or why not? How would a historian respond to that concept?


8. In the last dialogue of the movie, Pran says, "Nothing's forgiven. Nothing."
   
   What does he mean?

Links:

http://www.yale.edu/cgp/cgpintro.html

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