As the audience burst into thunderous applause behind the screen, those before the screen joined in that enthusiasm.
A few weeks later, Ngor flew to Taipei from Los Angeles especially for the local premiere of The Killing Fields.
In a well-tailored suit and wearing the now-familiar gold framed spectacles, Ngor appeared surprisingly gentle as he contemplated the welcoming crowd at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. He was soon tightly surrounded by a mixed host of reporters, local movie people and fans, and ethnic Chinese refugees from Cambodia, South Vietnam, and Laos, among others.
His neck heavy with welcome wreaths, his eyes filled with tears, Ngor declared: "I am very happy to be here. I know that the people of Free China are very well qualified to understand the cruelty of the Communists."
In the welcoming crowd, Ngor quickly spotted an old friend, Hsu Shih-hsiung, whom he had last seen 20 years ago in Cambodia. "Am I in a dream?" he muttered, obviously to himself, and then walked over and warmly embraced Hsu. He spoke louder now: "He was my playmate when we were small. He was lucky to escape from Cambodia before it fell... "
The next day at a Taipei press conference, Ngor recalled "the morning of April 17, ten years ago, when I was operating on a patient in a Phnom Penh hospital: Suddenly, a deafening rumble of firecrackers, mixed with cheers, rose from the main street. One of my assistants shouted, 'The war is over!'
"I did not say anything, but continued to work on my patient. An hour later, a pall and a rain of blood began to sweep across Cambodia.
"On the tenth anniversary of that horrible day, I am here in Free China. And all this is another wonderful arrangement by the God of Fate.
"While I was on my way here on a China Airlines flight, all sorts of feelings welled up in my mind.—How many times in my brief 35-year lifespan have I passed from the brink of death?"
He continued, "Now, I am here in this peaceful land. I don't know how to tell you my feelings, because you have never lost freedom."
During the one-hour press session, Ngor interjected more than once: "During more than ten hours on the plane, one thing turned over and over in my mind: If only my parents and my girlfriend were still alive and could fly with me to the Republic of China on Taiwan!"
On the same day earlier, President Chiang Ching-kuo received Ngor in a 20-minute meeting. The President asked about his life in the United States, about where he was born, and of his family life in Cambodia. According to Ngor, "I told the President that my family in Cambodia was rather poor; that we had lived there for four generations; and that in 1964, my family opened a timber mill. I told him of being sent for 'labor reform' by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 through 1978." The President gave Ngor a book he had authored.
On a local TV program the same day, Ngor told the audience, "I like the free air here-this scene of prosperity and progress."
After becoming an international figure almost overnight, Ngor has, predictably, been sought after by several film companies in Hongkong and Taiwan. He said that he would give some thought to the possibility of co-starring in a film for Taipei's Central Motion Picture Corporation with Actor Ko Chun-hsiung, whom, he said, he most admires.
Ngor also disclosed that a draft of his two-million-word autobiography has been completed, and that the book, focusing on the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge, is expected to be published in the United States soon.
For the premiere of The Killing Fields, Ngor made personal appearances at the Ambassador and Lux Cinemas in Taipei. From that point to this writing, the film has shown to capacity audiences every day.
Observations on the movie and the past...
Frederick Tan spoke earlier to Dr. Haing Ngor, a Cambodian of Chinese ancestry, at his Los Angeles apartment; excerpts from that conversation follow:
Your own experiences under the Khmer Rouge sound even more horrifying than those of Dith Pran (the true-life subject of the movie). I would like to know, who is the person you really played in The Killing Fields?
The external experience is Pran's, but the internal feelings belong to me. Dith Pran was more fortunate than me. He was working for the New York Times before the fall of Phnom Penh; therefore, he was able to arrange for the timely evacuation of his wife and children through the American Embassy. My entire family was killed by the Khmer Rouge; my fiancee died in my arms of starvation.
Today, Dith Pran is reunited with his family and happily working (as a photographer at the New York Times). But I am almost alone in this world-my niece is my only relative-and I am going to live the rest of my life with painful memories. Even this finger of mine: they chopped part of it off to warn me against stealing food to eat.
Did you meet Dith Pran before you made the movie?
I asked director Roland Joffe when I would meet Dith Pran for the shoot. He vaguely told me, as soon as we arrived at our location in Thailand. However, it turned out that not until the New York premiere of the movie-last October, did I get to see the person I had spent nearly a year of my life playing in The Killing Fields.
You are not a professional actor and had no training before you got this part. Yet your performance in this film has won acclaim. How did you manage to achieve such a triumph?
I didn't go through the professional struggle to become an actor. But I did go through a struggle to survive. My nearly five years in Khmer Rouge-run Cambodia was the best acting training- better than ten years of acting school.
Are you satisfied with The Killing Fields as a full depiction of reality?
No. Because it's not enough. It's not true enough. It's not cruel enough. During the shoot, I found the treatments of the horror and brutality were too polite, too mild compared to what had really happened. I complained often about that.
Both the producer and director tried to calm me down, repeatedly saying: "No way. If every scene were filmed exactly as it happened in real life, no one would come to see the film. No one could take it. Because it was all too painful, too cruel."
Did anyone agree with your view?
Dith Pran himself, and lots of Cambodian refugees in the U.S. all agree that this film portrays not even one-tenth the reality of Khmer Rouge brutality. Yet, the original writer of the story, Sidney Schanberg, is reportedly very satisfied with the film. It is quite understandable, because he did not go through the terror himself.
What about the interrogations?
My real ordeal came after they found out I was a doctor and had gone to college. I was hung from a tree with my arms tied behind my back for three days and two nights. The 10 to 15-year-old guerrillas smoked and burned me with a pile of burning branches on the ground. I almost couldn't take the pain ... almost admitted my background. Yet I didn't; that would be the end of my life.
Another time when I was before a "trial," I was bound in a line with fourteen others, including two pregnant women. They put plastic bags over our heads and tied them at the neck. Within two minutes, we were unable to breathe and screamed for relief. Abruptly, then, they'd pull the bags off and hit your head with a rifle butt. This went for hours as people died before our very eyes. Out of the fifteen captives, only five survived.
Did you personally witness the killing fields?
That was a sight I will never forget in my lifetime: Rotten bodies and human skeletons stretched over hill after hill. Dismantled bodies- hands, legs, and even heads—jammed in shallow ponds and mud pits. You couldn't find a spot to put your feet.
Were the victims executed elsewhere and then moved to be buried there?
No, killed right there. They didn't bother to move the dead bodies around or to bury them. They simply dug holes and dumped them in. They shot row after row of captives with machineguns. Quick and easy. The dead bodies were piled on each other under the sun and rain for months...for years. That is how the killing fields were formed. —I think the depiction of the killing fields in this movie is too mild.
Where were you in April, 1975? Why didn't you flee?
I was tied up with my big family —I had no way to get all of them out at once. Although there had been rumors about the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge-such as killing people with palm tree spikes and hiding them all over the countryside-no one I knew had ever seen that. So we never seriously worried.
I went to my medical professor for advice shortly after the Communist takeover. He said to me: "Don't worry, son, go back to work. Everything will be alright." A few months after, he was executed for being a professor. And I and my family went into hiding. The nightmare began.
It was suggested in both Schanberg's writing (his New York Times article, The Death and Life of Dith Pran) and the film that the psychological reason for the Pol Pot regime's massive killings was secretive B-52 bombings ordered by President Nixon. What is your observation?
They simply wanted to wipe out education and all educated people. You went to school? Kill! You know the ABC's? Kill! You are a teacher? Doctor? Writer? Kill! Even if you had lighter skin, which suggested you were not working class, they'd get you. I'll give you an example: Before the fall of Phnom Penh, there were 577 licensed Cambodian doctors. Today, only 40 are alive.
What do you think is the most significant achievement of The Killing Fields?
For myself and all my pitiful Cambodian countrymen, this film contained all our sorrow. To the entire world, this film is a most vivid accusation of unforgivable brutality on the part of the Khmer Rouge. After hearing the cry of the Cambodian people in this film, the world should feel sorrow and get up and do something about this.
What are your plans for the future?
Of course, being a doctor, my goal since childhood. I've already finished my studies at UCLA. As soon as I polish my English, I'll be able to take—and hopefully pass—the California exams. Meanwhile, helping refugees has been and will always be my dedication. I also serve now as the president of the West Coast branch of the Cambodian Association of the United States, which sponsors Cambodian refugees for immigration into the United States. As for acting. Yes, I will be interested. But only when offered suitable parts.