The Cause of Progress

This is an important film showing predatory capitalism and political corruption in Cambodia. A country we typically know little about in the global north. Despite its exotic location, the mechanisms of exploitation and discrimination against the poor are absolutely universal.

It's an important film, but chaotic: we observe popular protests, the demolition of poor people's homes, and the World Bank suspending loans to Cambodia but continuing to grant them. We first observe the legal battle for the release of arrested protesters, and then the divisions among the protesters, but viewers outside Cambodia are completely lost as different groups accuse each other of things the viewer is completely unable to verify.

Unfortunately, the film is shot in a way I dislike. There is no narrator; the camera simply constantly records the characters. The drawback of this narrative style is the very long scenes that contribute very little to the story. For example, we twice witness lengthy negotiations and attempts by temple police to arrest a monk who supports the protesting population. Moreover, the monk's formal status is unclear, as he was punished by the temple and sought political asylum, but later returned to Cambodia for the elections and wore the habit. Although the film is important, I would have preferred it to be cut in half and a narrator added to explain the situation.