He was a privileged youth who was drawn to Communism in France during the '50s. When he returned to his own country he led a violent brutal regime that saw more than a quarter of the population die. Along with Idi Amin Pol Pot is one of the most brutal and hated leaders of modern history. His Khmer Rouge party was responsible for the death of between 1 and 4 million people through disease starvation and execution. BIOGRAPHY traces his life and rule through interviews with those who knew him including former Khmer associates and friends from his radical days in Paris along with extensive footage from inside Cambodia and commentary from scholars historians and biographers. Learn of his comfortable childhood and hear how the future murderer was known as a charming caring and intelligent young man. Explore the reasons for his transformation into a leader whose thirst for blood and vengeance still scars his country almost two decades after he was overthrown. And examine his brutal legacy and the painful lesson it provides. From "the killing fields" to his shocking re-appearance after his death was rumored this is the gripping gruesome story of Pol Pot.

He was a privileged youth who was drawn to Communism in France during the '50s. When he returned to his own country, he led a violent, brutal regime that saw more than a quarter of the population die. Along with Idi Amin, Pol Pot is one of the most brutal and hated leaders of modern history. His Khmer Rouge party was responsible for the death of between 1 and 4 million people through diseas

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I can't blame this A&E 'Biography' video for the little footage of Pol Pot - he was rarely seen, let alone filmed. But this brief video falls short in most respects, offering little hard information, tiptoeing around the disasterous consequence of President Nixon's carpet bombing of the Cambodian/Vietnamese border, ignoring China's economic aid and complicity. It does not cover the Khmer Rouge's entrance into '90s Cambodian government, or the kickbacks and UN cowardice that allowed it to happen.

OK, what we do get is a 25-minute quick-study of farmer son Pol Pot ('Brother #1'), his education in modern Paris, the rise of the Khmer Rouge, the famine and genocide, and then the (to my mind, wonderful) invasion by Vietnam in '79/'80. One point comes clear - although they despised technology and even basic schooling, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge were similar to the Nazis/Stalinists & Chinese in one way - they wished to change not just the way people act, but the deepest way people can think. Pol Pot's dream of forcing Cambodia to a farm-based "Year Zero" could never work - the famine & chaos proved it - but this video doesn't come close to capturing the horror, let alone the ideas and actions that allowed such insanity to happen. (Saddest thing? Most of my opinions come from books, not this video. Footage of skulls can only tell you so much...)

A better choice? I highly recommend the upsetting memories of Chanrithy Him's "When Broken Glass Floats" and Loung Ung's "First They Killed My Father". These two books don't touch on politics often, but they will captivate any reader with a heart. Buy them with confidence, please don't buy this.

5 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Worthwhile Historical Information On Pol Pot & Khmer RougeJan 15, 2005
By G. Reid
This video tells the story of Pol Pot's and rebel's take over of Cambodia. It is an unbelievable and barbaric event for which it is difficult to understand the logic. Pol Pot apparently wanted to shift the power in the Country from the cities out into the countryside. The plan did not work and led to mass killings and starvation. It also led to the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam as Cambodia left itself defenseless.

5 of 13 found the following review helpful:

Shameful!Aug 26, 2006
By Jeffery Mingo
It's hard to believe that a country lost 1/4 of its people over nothing. This work felt more like something on PBS than A&E. Usually, A&E Biographies are bright, light-hearted, and chatty. This one kept it somber based on the seriousness of the subject. The work doesn't make this connection, but I immediately thought of Jim Jones, Stalin, and many other self-destructive and genocidal leaders. The work doesn't mention the United Nations until the very end. I kept asking myself why didn't the UN do more. This disc also goes from discussing Pol Pot in the 1970s then jumps to the 1990s. Why make that leap? Why was nothing done in the 1980s? Much is mentioned of Vietnamese refugees and immigrants in the US. Why don't people talk about those in the Cambodian diaspora more if they faced such a tragedy? It's not that this is a bad documentary, it's that the subject is so tragic and frustrating. I hope nothing like this and on this scale happens during this new century.