Abstract:

The Angry Skies is a compelling documentary which follows Blake Kerr-a New York based doctor, author, and human rights activist –as he travels to Cambodia to uncover the truths behind the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and its legacy that remains today. As this traumatized country finally prepares for the setting up of an international tribunal to try those responsible for genocide committed under Pol Pot's regime, Kerr traces and interviews survivors of the S21 torture center, many of whom still fear for their lives. Traveling deep into the country's dark hinterland, Kerr attempts to meet the last remaining architects of the Khmer Rouge regime, many of whom continue to exercise enormous power and influence. The film uncovers revelations ranging from US influence in the Khmer Rouge's rise to power as a result of the Nixon Administration's carpet-bombing strategies to the chain of command that resulted in the killing of Scottish academic Malcolm Caldwell and the true identity of the man who killed three western backpackers in 1994. The Angry Skies gives fascinating and often harrowing insight into a neglected, yet noble people, attempting to come to terms with atrocities committed by a nation on its own citizens, and over a century of western foreign policy that has been complicit in the horrors perpetrated on their country.