Abstract:

One of the most mythic and potent journeys of our time, up the Mekong River through the exquisite, complicated, surprising terrain of Vietnam and Cambodia to the great ruins at Angkor - the magnificent Khmer temples built from the 9th-13th centuries AD that are being painstakingly restored deep in the Cambodian jungle. Director Les Guthman travels by boat up a river whose raw beauty and power were celebrated by Marguerite Duras in the 1920s. But in our time it became known as "the river of evil memory" as it coursed through Southeast Asia in the second half of the 20th century. Today, the river in Vietnam is filled with the vibrant life of a young nation free of a century of war. In Cambodia the past weighs far heavier. We travel up the Mekong passed Phnom Penh, once called "the beguiling beauty of SE Asia," toward the Laotian border in search of the almost-extinct fresh water dolphins of the Mekong; then return back to the capital and head northwest up one of the world's unique natural wonders, the Tonle Sap River, and across the great Tonle Sap Lake, one of the planet's most abundant fisheries. In Angkor, World Monuments Fund experts describe their 15-year restoration of one of the jewels of a city called "the eighth wonder of the world," the 12th century palace complex of Preah Khan. And as they take us on an insider's tour of Preah Khan, along with the other major sites of Angkor Wat, Bayon and Banteay Srei, we learn that the story of their work in Angkor is not only a story of the rebirth of Angkor after the horrors of the Khmer Rouge Era, but it is also a story of the rebirth of Cambodia. A stunningly filmed high definition odyssey up a river far distanced in time from the corridor into the heart of darkness portrayed in Francis Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." Reviews: ***** Amazon.com; "A Beautiful Film," FILM WEEK; "Don't Miss" Column, Los Angeles Downtown News. Cast: Simone Kauffman, John Stubbs, John Sanday, Kin-Po Thai, Les Guthman, Susan Kleinberg Film Festivals: Museum of Modern Art's "Documentary Fortnight Expanded," film festival, New York, 2007; Royal Geographic Society, London, 2007; Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, 2007; Lincoln Center Benefit, New York, 2006; Explorers Club featured screening, New York, 2006; Asia Society benefit screening, New York, 2006; Washington, DC. Environmental Film Festival, 2007; Beverly Hills Film Festival 2007. Title #215790 Running time: 66 minutes Format: DVD-R Streaming video trailer