Movie with Abe: A River Changes Course (Capsule Review)

A River Changes Course
Directed by Kalyanee Mam
Released October 4, 2013

Some documentaries tell a story and others evoke a personal passion. This film, which was a hit at Sundance, comes from Cambodian filmmaker Kalyanee Mam, who returns to her homeland to take a look at how the landscape of her country has changed due to industry and infrastructure, and the staggering effect it has had on its people. Mam gets close to the people and allows them to tell their own stories, explaining in great detail their daily lives and the way that they work so hard to try to support their families on meager wages. The subtitles for the native Khmer dialogue reveals that workers earn at most one hundred U.S. dollars per month, and the way that they think is inconsolably different from how those in first-world countries operate. This documentary digs deep and really gets to know its subject matter, presenting a worthwhile and thought-provoking look at how one country is responding to its own internal crisis.

B+