Exile. 2016. Cambodia/France. Directed by Rithy Panh. DCP. In French; English subtitles. 77 min.
“Exile is an abandonment, a terrifying solitude,” Rithy Panh has observed. Through a series of staged tableaux involving an actor in a wooden hut surrounded by objects of symbolic and literal import (an iron spoon, paper birds, rice, a boulder…) and an unseen narrator quoting Robespierre, Mao, Lenin, and others, Panh creates a haunting memento mori, a reminder of the fleetingness and fragility of life amid the ever-present specter of death. In this deeply felt and provocative hybrid of essay and artifice, the filmmaker reflects on the idea of revolution: specifically, on the vicious and delusional ideology of the Khmer Rouge that promised collective salvation for all Cambodians, but brought only violence and ruin. Courtesy Strand Releasing