ABSTRACT
Some reviewers of S-21, Rithy Panh’s documentary film that convenes 11 former torturers and 2 victims in the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, observed that the release of the movie in 2002 occurred in the broader context of a politico-legal crisis. Efforts to establish a tribunal empowered to judge the Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity and genocide had been delayed or compromised. In this setting of legal impunity, collective amnesia and social taboo, this chapter considers the political nature of Rithy Panh’s film, S-21, and in particular its judicial nature. This study draws on three main sources: the film’s production file, the complementary book The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, issued in 2002 by Rithy Panh and Christine Chaumeau, and an interview with Rithy Panh in 2016. These sources cast new light on the progressive political commitment of the film, as well as its self-censorship. The chapter illustrates how Rithy Panh directed the film as a criminal investigator, as he felt compelled to compensate for perceived weaknesses of the coming Khmer Rouge trial. Panh carries out his investigation through the traditional techniques of confrontation and reconstruction to reveal a deeply denied truth.
