The scale of the destruction and tragedy inflicted on Cambodia by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 is almost incomprehensible. Hell bent on creating an agrarian socialist society based on an extreme reading of Marxist-Leninist theory, the Khmer Rouge set out over its four-year reign to systematically recalibrate the country’s social, economic and political fabric: the professional middle-class was all but obliterated, while any vestiges of western capitalist influence were treated like cancerous growths.
Don’t Think I Have Forgotten tells the story of Cambodia’s popular music and rock’n’roll scene, and its subsequent attack by the Khmer Rouge. Told largely through the eyes of some of the surviving protagonists of Cambodian popular music, the film’s focus is on the performers, rather than the genocidal efforts of the Khmer Rouge.
The film traces the career of Sinn Sisamuth from 1950s crooner to ’60s pop singer, while other Cambodian musicians combined traditional Cambodian vocal styles with the soul, rock’n’roll and psychedelic sounds introduced by American troops deployed in the region. Cambodia’s troubled evolution from French protectorate to self-governing monarchy, and eventually to violent dictatorship provides the political backdrop to the film. The fate of many of the artists featured in the documentary is unclear, presumably on account of their persecution by the Khmer Rouge.
Don’t Think I Have Forgotten is primarily a celebration of a vibrant, and nearly-lost artistic scene; it’s also a chilling reminder of Cambodia’s murderous recent history, and the country’s attempts to overcome the violent stains of its past.
BY PATRICK EMERY
