Directors Skye Fitzgerald and Patti Duncan's Finding Face looks at a brutal attack and subsequent quest for justice in the case of Tat Marina, a beautiful Cambodian karaoke video star who caught the eye of Cambodian Undersecretary of State Svay Sitha. Falsely claiming to be a businessman, Sitha pursued then 15-year-old Marina, who yielded to his advances but tried to break up with him when she learned the truth. Sitha proceeded to threaten Marina, and in 1999 she was beaten and doused with acid. The attackers were identified as Sitha's wife and two of her bodyguards, who were never tried for the crime. This horrific story is told through voiceover narration by Marina and her brother, Tat Sequndo, who lives in the U.S. and secured asylum for his sister while also arranging for her medical care, including 28 surgeries. Fitzgerald and Duncan combine footage shot in Cambodia and the U.S. with a re-enactment of the criminal act (shown in a blurred-out sequence) and interviews with other acid-attack victims, as well as surgeon Daniel Driscoll, Mu Sochua (former Cambodian Minister of Women's and Veterans' Affairs), and Jason Barber of the Project Against Torture, who help put the episode in a broader context, noting that such incidents are common in Southeast Asia. Although Marina's ordeal highlights a case of gross injustice, this documentary ensures that the court of public opinion will remain in session. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
Finding Face
(2009) 68 min. DVD: $21.99: individuals; $250 (w/PPR): institutions. Collective Eye. Volume 26, Issue 2
Finding Face
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