When the Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh in 1975, many thought the killing would end. Instead it started a long nightmare in which three million Cambodians would lose their lives in the killing fields... The Killing Fields is an epic true story of friendship and survival produced by David Puttnam ( Chariots of Fire) and directed by Roland Joffe ( The Mission). Sam Waterston plays Sydney Schanberg, whose war coverage entraps him and other journalists in Cambodia's turbulent politics. Dr. Haing S. Ngor is Dith Pran, Schanberg's aide and friend who saves them from execution. But Pran is sentenced to work in the labour camps, enduring starvation and torture before attempting an escape to neighbouring Thailand.... In real life Dr Ngor also endured Khmer Rouge atrocities and saw his moving, Oscar-winning portrayal of Pran (one of the film's three Academy Awards) as a way of bringing his nation's tragic ordeal to light.