Despite its calming, meditative tone, Pol Pot Dancing carries the weight of tragedy within its central message. Cambodia’s devastating history during the mid-to-late 1970s is on full display in this documentary. Rather than exploring events through a linear timeline of the rise and fall of the dictator Pol Pot, the film shows how his reign affected the artists of the country during a hostile and violent time. It also examines the relationship between the dictator and multigenerational Cambodian dance.
The core narrative of Pol Pot Dancing follows Chea Samy, whom we meet through archival interviews from years earlier. She was a dancer at the Cambodian royal court and raised her husband’s little brother as her own son. Later in life, she learns that the child she raised—Saloth Sâr—has become the Khmer Rouge’s brutal leader, now known as Pol Pot. Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, a focal point of the film and a student of Samy’s, teaches her own dance students about how a sweet soul like Samy could inspire someone who became so vicious. Artistic expression was punishable by death under the Khmer Rouge, which sought to erase traditional Cambodian dance and many other forms of creativity during its reign.
Pol Pot Dancing’s tempo, with its one-hour and forty-two-minute runtime, may challenge some viewers. However, director Enrique Sánchez Lansch balances historical context with interpretive dance performances that mirror the emotional beats of the story. It may feel like a jarring approach at first, but viewers will eventually settle into its rhythm and appreciate what’s being conveyed.
Why does this film about traditional Cambodian dance belong in public and academic library collections?
Pol Pot Dancing belongs at the fingertips of any educational platform for many different reasons. It’s an excellent choice for anyone studying the tragic history of Cambodia throughout the 1970s. Pol Pot is a name that no longer sits at the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to dictators and their atrocities. His reign from 1975 to 1979 is brief, but it teaches a valuable lesson about the extent of power a dictator can wield and the abuse that can result from it.
Cambodia is still haunted by what was the Khmer Rogue, and that message is clear in the documentary. Pol Pot Dancing, however, strikes a good balance by not harping too much on the horrors of being under a vicious dictatorship. Still, instead, it creates a message that artistic expression can never be denied in a world full of hate. There is a distinctly Buddhist philosophy of forgiveness and redemption that pervades the film, conveying a message that even a tyrannical dictator cannot silence art.
What makes Pol Pot Dancing an essential title for film and Southeast Asian studies programs?
This documentary offers a multidisciplinary approach that’s ideal for academic programs in Southeast Asian studies, dance history, trauma studies, political science, and cultural preservation. It weaves biography, oral history, and performance art into a single narrative that not only humanizes history but also interrogates the role of mentorship, memory, and expression under repression. Instructors can use the film to spark classroom discussions about dictatorship, cultural genocide, and the healing power of art.