After turning 50, Cambodian documentarian Rithy Panh began to search for his childhood “like a lost picture.” Rather than slapping together 92 minutes of file footage to illustrate the dehumanizing barbarity his countrymen endured at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, Panh takes us through a visual gentrification process where the atrocities are “acted out” by clay figures. With my mind accustomed as it is to watching so many cartoons, the lack of character movement, even in its most limited form, was in the least discombobulating. It took several minutes to acclimate to what on the surface resembled a claymation universe with models that stood stiffer than Gumby. The technique eventually proves effective as Panh’s personally hand carved and detailed puppets - their cragged configuration and stupefacient look burned in their hollow eyes - and the story skillfully mutates into a chilling representation of a society overcome by fear. (2013) — Scott Marks
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