MISE-EN-SCENE

  I decided to comment on the mise-en-scene of the movie " First They Killed My Father." I picked this movie because it is primarily based around the Cambodian genocide. Loung Ung is a 5-year-old when the Khmer Rogue overpowers the Cambodians in 1975. Nearly 2 million Cambodians died during this genocide. The movie does a good job portraying the emotions and hardships the Cambodians faced during the genocide through the four general mise-en-scene areas: setting, lighting, costume, and staging. 

At the beginning of the movie, the viewer sees a high-key lighting scene. 5-year old Loung Ung is seen walking throughout her parent's house. She passes by her tv and shows her grand balcony to her house. The high-key lighting gives a radiant and happy vibe to the first scene. 

The next scene shows Loung Ung neighborhood being evacuated due to Americans booming. The soldiers tell the civilians that they are allowed to come back after three days, but we soon find out this is not true. Due to this, we see Loung Ung and his family Costume change. Thye goes from wearing elegant clothing, driving a car, and eating a lot to wearing sample black clothing, no shoes, and eating little to none each day. The dark clothing represents the miss-treatment the family faces at the labor camp. 

In addition, a lot of frontality scenes are shown throughout the movie. One example of this frontality scene is when the mother is talking to Loung and her 2 siblings. She tells them they have to escape the camp because their father is dead and she can't take care or keep an eye out for them much longer. She tells the first sibling to go west, the other east, and Loung north. This way if one gets caught the other will not. You can see her crying as the scene closely shows her face.