Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Paul Magne Haakonsen This movie was very well told, and director Angelina Jolie really stepped up as a director."First They Killed My Father" had a very good story, and it is the type of movie that really gets under your skin as this is based on real events. It is hard to fathom that something like this has happened for real, but the fact that it did just adds a whole different layer to the entire movie.The movie was held relatively free of explicit violence and gory scenes, but you still knew exactly what kind of horrible stuff what was going on.The scene with the fleeing Kmer people and the landmines was the most brutal scene of the entire movie, and it definitely left a lasting impression.The cast ensemble was good and people really performance quite well. Needless to say that I was not familiar with the people here. But that is usually a good thing, at least for me, because I do enjoy watching new faces and unfamiliar talents on the screen.Thumbs up for director Angelina Jolie on her accomplishment with "First They Killed My Father", because this is definitely a movie that is quite worth taking the time to sit down and watch.

Matt Greene Angelina Jolie has been consistently banal with her directing efforts, and this one is no different. At its best, it's skillfully edited, beautifully shot, solidly acted, and disarmingly authentic. At its worst, it's sluggish homework. There are certainly some bright spots (lead girl is incredible, battle scene is harrowing, message of forgiveness over vengeance). Still, if you wanna watch a more engaging version of a similar story, click over to another Netflix original Beasts of No Nation.

bloodfalcon64 Having lived in Cambodia for over 18 months, I was glad to see a movie bringing the many atrocities of the Khmer Rouge to light, for the simple fact that far too many people have no idea what happened in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, and those who do, don't understand the why behind it. This movie not only fails to inform about the truth, but also intentionally misinforms with straight up non-facts that fit today's alt-left anti-US sentiment. All this amounts to both a simply terrible movie, and an utterly shameful insult to the upwards of 3 million victims of the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge regime. I understand the source material is the memoir of a survivor who was a young girl at the time, but the presentation of said source material is over produced, needlessly artsy, and even the supposedly emotional scenes lose impact because the film does not add any context to the events that unfold. Which is very coincidental, as the Khmer Rouge targeted intellectuals for extermination, this very movie leaves out a lot of facts which would make the false narrative purveyed by the director crumble to pieces. Looks like the alt-left ultra-communist playbook hasn't changed much after 40 years. Do yourself a favor and show respect to the victims of this tragedy by skipping this movie and reading some of the very informative books out there. Even better if you could actually travel to Cambodia and visit Tuol Sleng (S21 prison) and Choeung Ek (the killing fields).

Leofwine_draca FIRST THEY KILLED MY FATHER is the high-profile exploration of life under the Khmer Rouge, based on a non-fiction novel and filmed by Angelina Jolie. I found it a somewhat overrated experience that feels overlong and disappointingly mundane, sugar-coating some of the material (this has a happy ending, no less) and toning down all of the violence and depravity that took place in Cambodia in the 1970s. I'm not a gorehound looking for sadistic entertainment, but I did expect something a little more than endless drawn-out scenes of a young girl witnessing death and chaos but somehow always feeling on the outside. There's no real emotional value here, and although the film is very well shot and authentically acted, it just feels like a missed opportunity in comparison to something genuinely powerful like THE KILLING FIELDS.