Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death (2011) [N/A]
Featuring:
Guek Eav 'Comrade Duch' Kaing
Directed by:
Adrian Maben
Release Date:
May 31, 2011
Original Title:
Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death
Alternate Titles:
Pol Pot's Executioner: Welcome to Hell
Genres:
Documentary
Production Companies:
ITVS
L&L Media
Sodaperaga Productions
Production Countries:
France | United Kingdom | United States of America
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 83
On 28 February 2009 Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, appeared in the ECCC courtroom and made a two-hour speech where he asked for forgiveness for the appalling torture and execution of at least 13,000 prisoners at Tuol Sleng and probably more in the security camps of M-13 and M-99. Until this date, with the exception of a handful of judges, lawyers and a priest, he had not been seen or heard of for the last thirty years. How did a man, known to be kind and generous to fellow students, possibly transform himself into Comrade Duch, the Khmer Rouge's infamous executioner? This documentary revisits and searches for clues. (Storyville)
Comrade Duch murdered 14,000 people on behalf of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia's Tuol Sleng prison in the 1970 and 1980s. Today, the repentant killer has been confronted by evidence of his horrendous crimes against humanity in a court, and by the people of Cambodia who suffered at his hands. In the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, Duch (born Kaing Guek Eav) and onlookers watch wrenching tribunal footage, and face the anguish and anger of relatives of Tuol Sleng victims. Comrade Duch might never have been captured and brought to trial if not for Irish photojournalist Nic Dunlop, who searched tirelessly for Duch until finding him in a remote area near the Thai border, 20 years after his escape from Tuol Sleng and subsequent conversion to evangelical Christianity. Because of the intervening years and the radical change Duch underwent while in hiding, it is not a simple matter to condemn the man. And yet it is especially terrifying to realize this mild-mannered math teacher could have turned turned into such a vicious sadist for years, and then suddenly converted to a peaceful and devout Christian. Perhaps it is simply too much to believe. It is up to the court to decide what justice awaits the born-again executioner.
