The Killing Fields is the true story of one man's heroism and the struggle for two men to reunite.New York Times correspondent Sydney Schanberg is sent to Cambodia in 1973 to cover the war between the revolutionary Khmer Rouge and the government.He meets Dith Pran (Cambodian actor Haing S. Ngor in an Academy Award winning performance): a local journalist who becomes his trusted assistant, interpreter, and friend. When the Khmer Rouge troops enter Phnom Penh in April 1975 and seize control of the country, Pran throws himself at their mercy to save the lives of Schanberg and several other foreign correspondents.What follows for Pran, and for all Cambodians, is unspeakable horror. Whilst Schanberg spends four and a half years seeking news of his friend, nearly half the population of seven million are massacred by the Khmer Rouge or die of starvation and disease.The once rich Cambodian countryside now bears a new name: The Killing Fields. The first film by Roland Joffe - director of The Mission - The Killing Fields features an acclaimed screenplay by Bruce Robinson and a superb supporting cast including John Malkovich.