We continue our series of reviews chronicling all of the (non-Studio Ghibli) animated films distributed by GKIDS Films — some of the most original and breathtakingly beautiful animated films from around the world — and how they hold up for a young American audience.

The entire retrospective is found here, and this time we’ve got…

Funan (2018): Denis Do, director

What’s it about?

The film chronicles the brutal Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia from 1975 through 1979 as seen through the eyes of one woman, Chou. When the movie begins (in April 1975), Chou and her family are living a happy life in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. The Khmer Rouge soon arrive, and the entire city is evacuated to the countryside. Though people were told the evacuation was temporary and for safety reasons because of the threat of American bombing, the reality is that urban residents were seen as an “elite class,” and the Khmer Rouge viewed them as anti-revolutionary and corrupted by capitalism. The evacuation was ultimately a death march for hundreds of thousands of people who were permanently relocated to rural work camps.

Chou’s world is thus turned upside down. During the evacuation, she gets separated from her 3-year-old son, and the ensuing months (and years) reveal a fraction of just how horrific that time was for ordinary Cambodians. Without entering spoiler territory, by the end of the film, Chou has lost almost literally everything.

Funan is a powerful story about the strength of love and family in the face of indescribable atrocities and against unbelievable odds. It’s dark, it’s moving, it’s emotional… but it’s also vital. Far too few people know what happened in Cambodia during the 1970s, which was literally a genocide that claimed nearly 2 million lives – an astonishing 25% of Cambodia’s population.

Chou’s story, though fictional, is based on the experiences of director Denis Do’s mother. He used the film as a sort of reckoning to understand what his family – and millions of others – endured at the hands of Pol Pot, power-crazed revolutionaries, and the Khmer Rouge.

What are the cultures at play? And how about the languages?

The setting, obviously, is Cambodia during the 1970s. However, Denis Do and the film itself are French, and the language spoken on screen is French, rather than Khmer.

If you’re completely unfamiliar with this period of Cambodia’s history, the Khmer Rouge regime, and the Cambodian genocide, you might be left with a few questions. The film does a great job of contextualizing and explaining what you absolutely need to know to follow Chou’s story, but it doesn’t hand hold those who come to the story blind about the historical events.

Ultimately, this is a look at huge events through a microscope. We follow a single family – a single woman – through events over which she has no control. And we see very little of what’s happening beyond her immediate experience. In a sense, the audience is just as bewildered and frustrated as Chou and her family. Why is this happening? What gives the soldiers the right? How could this happen in 1975, a mere 30 years after the Holocaust? Where is the justice?

Will my kids like it? Is there anything objectionable for young kids?

The film is unrated, though it does carry a note that it’s recommended for audiences 13 and up. There’s only a single scene that shows blood. Everything else is left to the imagination. Unimaginable acts of brutality – murder, assassination, rape, starvation – are throughout the film; they’re just not shown on screen.

Kids, who very likely have no basis for understanding the events Funan depicts, will almost assuredly have a LOT of questions. So make sure you have answers beyond “Sometimes people are terrible.” The Cambodian genocide is something we cannot let slip into obscurity.

Will I like it?

There was a time in college when I read everything I could about this period of Cambodia’s history. I read a lot of books – both firsthand accounts (e.g., First They Killed My Father and When Broken Glass Floats) and more comprehensive works of journalism (e.g., When the War Was Over) – and watched films like The Killing Fields. And when I found myself traveling through Southeast Asia in 2006, I made a point to spend time in Cambodia. And I didn’t just make a beeline for tourist central at Angkor Wat. We spent a couple weeks in the country and made it a point to get off the beaten track.

I say all this to explain that I came to Funan more familiar with Cambodia’s history than most American audiences. And though the film isn’t exactly EASY viewing, it is nonetheless essential. Animation might not seem a natural medium for a story such as this, but one of the strengths of animation is that it can faithfully re-create a time and people long gone. And Denis Do poured 20 years of research and family history into Funan.

It’s a stunning film you won’t soon forget. And if it inspires you to learn more about Cambodia and the Cambodian people, all the better.

I should also mention that the soundtrack, composed by Thibault Kientz-Agyeman, is simply divine and adds so much to the film. (Available to stream on Amazon Music here.)

How can I see it?

GKIDS and Shout Factory recently released a Blu-ray edition of the film, which includes a few bonus features, the most worthwhile being the interviews with director Denis Do (in which he talks about how the film is rooted in his mother’s experience), but there are also trailers, an art gallery, and some storyboards. It’s available from all the usual outlets, including Amazon.

Final word?

Watch it. That’s my final word. Like I said earlier, it’s not easy viewing, so make sure you’re prepared for an emotional hour and a half. But it’s easily the most powerful GKIDS release I’ve seen in years – on par with Isao Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies.