Based on the true story of Lounge Ung, a young girl born in Cambodia and witnesses the time under the monarch of the corrupted and oppressive ruler Khmer Rouge.
The best work Jolie's done yet. Still, every time Loung's captors holler, "You must have a revolutionary spirit!", I wondered if Jolie ever feels the urge to make truly rebellious art.
Amid all the important facts, I longed for something unnecessary from the filmmaker, some expressive flourish whose sole purpose isn't just to convey information.
One of the strengths of First They Killed My Father is its matter of fact quality. Only very late on does Jolie indulge in the kind of melodramatic flourishes you'd expect in a Hollywood movie on the same subject.
As director, Angelina Jolie brings to life all the horrors of revolution and war, told through the point of view of a five-year-old Cambodian who later wrote a memoir of the tragic events she witnessed during the Pol Pot regime.
Jolie the woke celebrity and Jolie the artist seem caught at a crossroads with this film, juggling instincts that put her inner Terrence Malick and Ken Burns at odds with one another.
