I came across this movie by chance on Netflix while I was bored wondering what to do. I read the synopsis and thought it looked interesting.

It was directed by Angelina Jolie so you know it’s going to be some film festival worthy sort of movie and I was right.

First They Killed My Father is based on a true story of a survivor during the Cambodian war, a daughter who had to live through the atrocities of the war and tell the tale through a book.

One of the things I love about the movie is the first person perspective which I would assume the book to be and try to keep it the same way on screen. I love how it feels like the little girl was holding on to a digital video camera that we all know does not exist during that period.

What I found interesting is if it is any other Hollywood movie, what I expect to happen – girl became crazy and started shooting and killing people after being trained to kill – would happen. But it didn’t. Because this is a real story of a girl trying to find the remaining of her family members and just trying to survive and adapt. In reality, we would probably be in her shoes, just doing what was told by our enemies trying to live for another day.

The one thing I probably not like would be how she imagined her parents to die. Because the story is in her perspective, I do not know, till now, whether that’s how they really die. She wasn’t there to witness these deaths. Did she hear it through the grapevine? Did it really happen?

All in all, I like that Angelina Jolie did not whitewash any parts of the movie. She really got Cambodian actors to play the roles and the entire movie was in Cambodian language. That is absolutely amazing for her to do and earned her a lot of respect from me. She kept it authentic.

I’m not so sure why she decided to direct the movie but I believe it might partly be due to her son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, who was born in Cambodia and is the executive producer for the movie. She probably wants him to learn about his birth country. Of course, I’m not entirely sure but if I have that much money and talent to direct, I’d probably do as much for my son.

Anyway, I’ll give this movie a 4.5 out of 5 – for that one tiny part I do not like. It really does distract me a little.

Trailer…