Overview
A harrowing journey through the eyes of a child caught in the chaos of war.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- harrowing
- intimate
- empathetic
- historical film night
- serious viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film’s empathetic, immersive child-level perspective on Khmer Rouge atrocities, supported by Angelina Jolie’s assured direction and journalistic visual storytelling.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Loung experiences the Khmer Rouge takeover, labor camp, and family fragmentation at an age when the larger political meaning remains only partially comprehensible.
The story follows a middle-class family forced from its apartment into primitive labor conditions, showing genocide through displacement, hunger, coercion, and separation.
The critical consensus specifically praises the film’s grace, skill, empathy, and ground-level experiential treatment of historic atrocities.
The family’s movement from urban comfort into primitive working camps and controlled rural spaces makes the Khmer Rouge system visually and materially present.
Films like First They Killed My Father, and why
The Killing Fields
shares a child-centered perspective on genocide, historical atrocity, and the loss of family under totalitarian violence
Empire of the Sun
shares a ground-level survival narrative, wartime trauma, and emotionally restrained historical realism
Grave of the Fireflies
shares a child’s viewpoint, family separation, forced displacement, and intimate depiction of wartime brutality
Persepolis
shares a biographical historical drama centered on childhood, political violence, and endurance under oppression
Movie Details
- Director
- Angelina Jolie
- Release Date
- 2017-02-18
- Runtime
- 136 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (732)
Cast
- Sareum Srey Moch
- Phoeung Kompheak
- Sveng Socheata
- Mun Kimhak
- Heng Dara
- Khoun Sothea
- Sarun Nika
- Run Malyna
- Oun Srey Neang
- Horm Chhora
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is First They Killed My Father about?
- A Cambodian girl’s forced descent from protected childhood into Khmer Rouge labor camps becomes an intimate portrait of family survival amid genocide.
- What is First They Killed My Father like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of First They Killed My Father as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is First They Killed My Father violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in First They Killed My Father as graphic.
- What did critics think of First They Killed My Father?
- Critics broadly praised the film’s empathetic, immersive child-level perspective on Khmer Rouge atrocities, supported by Angelina Jolie’s assured direction and journalistic visual storytelling.
- Which films are like First They Killed My Father?
- Films with a similar feel include The Killing Fields, Empire of the Sun, Grave of the Fireflies, and Persepolis.
- How long is First They Killed My Father?
- First They Killed My Father runs 136 minutes.
- Where can I watch First They Killed My Father?
- In United States, First They Killed My Father streams on Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads.
