The Missing Picture. Still images and a moving camera tells a story of a generation!

Cambodian society was divided between wealthy and poor. The revolution was to call for justice and rebuild society with no class division. 1.7 million people were killed between 1975-1979 by Khmer Rouge (Quackenbush, 2019). During the war no pictures or documentary were allowed to be taken.

This film was created mostly from figures and sets to rebuild images that were destroyed and erased (Greene, 2018). This film was made from a private memory to fill historical gaps and to create a memory of the dead and bring them to life for future generations (LaRocca, 2021). The film is powerful, dark, and artistic. We can imagine how much work and time goes into making these figures for one still image that tells so many stories.

The still images made by the figures were powerful memorials. The stillness made me imagine figures moving and what was happening in the situation. Additionally, these images communicate emotion through stillness. Illustration 1 below is one of the most powerful stills from the film. I could feel the cruelty, the exhaustion and the darkness shown by the authority figures looking down on the labourers.

Illustration 1

There was a sequence in this film, which we discussed in class. It showed the first man landing on the moon followed by dead people and a voiceover narrating the famous saying “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” followed by "The great leap for mankind lies not in capitalist propaganda it is here for we who are hungry". This sequence blew me away! If we are able to take a step on the moon, why aren’t we able to save humanity.

There was another moment of wonder, when the narrator voiced over that the Cambodians were cut and tutored while displaying images of the torture equipment. Making one wonder why do we, humans, do all these sorts of things? Could such films help other generations to stop violence and understand humanity?

Also, there was a moment of conclusion when the camera moves from the figures to a real photograph. It was an old photograph of children standing within the set, Illustration 2, followed by the voiceover “childhood is refrain”. This manipulation of using figures and a photograph made me think that using figures or photography can tell a true story “are we prepared to say the photograph is not just true but truer than the figures? The fact that we speak with comparative evaluation of truth” which “shows that we have much yet to consider and explain” (LaRocca, 2021).

Illustration 2

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Bibliography

Greene, R. (2018) Film of the week: The Missing Picture. [online] British Film Institute. Available at: https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/reviews-recommendations/film-week-missing-picture [Accessed 19 Nov. 2021].

LaRocca, D. (2021) 13 Memory Translation: Rithy Panh’s Provocations to the Primacy and Virtues of the Documentary Sound/Image Index. The Cinema of Rithy Panh, 13, pp.188–201.

Quackenbush, C. (2019) 40 Years After the Fall of the Khmer Rouge, Cambodia Still Grapples With Pol Pot’s Brutal Legacy. [online] Time. Available at: https://time.com/5486460/pol-pot-cambodia-1979/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2021].

The Missing Picture, (2013) Written & Directed by Rithy Panh. France: Les Acacias.