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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first memoir from a survivor; a model for other victims., December 7, 1999
A touching memoir from one of only seven known prisoners to survive S-21, the infamous interrogation and extermination center of the Pol Pot regime. The scene depicting Vann Nath's subsequent meeting ten years later with "Huy", one of the center's executioners, says much about the nature of the Cambodian people. "A Cambodian Prison Portrait" sets a fine example which, if followed by other witnesses of the past and ongoing tragedies in Cambodia, could contribute to civilized political discourse in that country. Readers should refer to Professor David Chandler's upcoming "Voices from S-21" for further insight into the how this prison came into existence.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Vann Nath Gives a Face to Tuol Sleng Prison, September 1, 2004
Vann Nath is one of seven surviors to have left Tuol Sleng prison alive. Prior to his arrest, Vann Nath was the partial owner of a small art business, specializing in landscapes and other illustrations capturing Khmer life.
However, following the fall of Phnom Penh to Khmer Rouge forces, and the subsequent exodus, Vann found himself survinving in the Cambodian countryside, participating in the agrarian "offensive" engineered by the DPK leadership. Like many others, Vann was arrested with no warning and even less reason and transported to Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21.
At first, Vann Nath was no different from the thousands of other Khmer citizens summonded to S-21 for painful interrogation and ultimate execution. But, due to the meticulous record keeping of the DPK's security organization, Santebal, it was discovered that prior to the revolution Vann was an artist; a skill that would eventually save his life.
Although most intellectuals, dancers, etc. were "smashed" at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, it is a strange twist of fate that someone with the ability to create was spared. The comandant of S-21, Duch, brought Vann Nath and other artists out of the mass detention cells and placed them in a small, segregated block were they were forced, under penalty of torture and death to create images of Pol Pot and other high ranking DPK cadre. The smallest flaw would have lead to extermination at the killing fields at Choeng Ek.
Vann Nath was held prisoner at S-21 for roughly one year. During that time he was a silent witness to the mass insantiy that plagued Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime. His first hand experience is captured in a number of paintings on display at Tuol Sleng prison today. His paintings hang next to and illustrate the uses of the assorted torture implements displayed in Building B. The paintings grant the viewer a graphic and intimate aquantince with the whips, cages, electric wires, water tourture devices and the host of other barbaric tools.
Aside from capturing life inside S-21, Vann recreates his time spent in the countryside, working as a human tool in the Khmer Rouge collectives. Although his paintings are slightly crude, they remain extremly powerful. The image of a black clad soldier ripping a baby from the arms of its screaming mother, while other soldiers whip the woman with electrical wires nearly forces the viewer to turn away. The image of masked, imaciated bodies kneeling on the edge of a mass grave, waiting for the resounding crack of a wooden ox cart handle caving in their skulls makes the casaul observer nauseous. His images bring forth the true horrors of Cambodia's bloody past.
Being one of only a few survivors of S-21, Vann Nath was instrumental in the creation of Tuol Sleng Museum, housed in the former prison itself. Due to years of hard work, and the unimaginable task of exorsising past demons, the lessons of the Khmer Rouge and S-21 won't be quickly forgotten. Following the fall of Phnom Penh in 1979, the Vietnamese, with the help of Vann Nath and others, created the Tuol Sleng Museum as well as the Choeng Ek Genocide Center 15 minutes outside of the city.
It is interesting to see the name of Vann Nath appear countless time in the academic works of such notable scholars as David Chandler and Ben Kiernan. Aside from capturing the magnitude of horrors conducted at S-21 though paint, Vann serves as a living well of history, drawn upon by nearly every reputable scholar or other interested party seeking to learn more about the Khmer Rouge regime.
We must truly admire Vann Nath's self-sacrifice in accepting this role and serving it well, for without him and others like him, the knowledge of what truly transpired in those years of national psychosis would be buried along with countless others in shallow graves thoughout the Cambodian countryside.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
We were just tools for them to use, May 17, 2004
This book is a prime eye-witness of the slaughtering at Pol Pot's secret prison S-21 in Red Khmer Cambodia. Vann Nath is one of the seven (!) inmates out of more than 14000, who survived the bloodshed, because as a painter he could provide useful big portraits of Pol Pot.
What is remarkable in this book is the fact that Vann Nath forgives his former torturers: 'We were just tools for them to use'.
Nonetheless, he regrets that 'Pol Pot died unpunished ... and perhaps the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders will never be punished.' (p. 118)
This book contains some pictures of the author's gripping paintings about this horrible prison, where whole families (men, women, children and BABIES) were clubbed unconscious with iron bars before their throats were cut.
The author is one of the main characters of the remarkable documentary movie by Rithy Panh 'S21 - The Khmer Rouge Death Machine'. A chilling masterpiece.
I must also recommend the magisterial analysis of Pol Pot's death camp by Prof. David Chandler 'Voices from S-21'.
A must read.
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by Nic Dunlop
