The author of this speech in an Assistant
Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the US Naval Post-graduated
School. He is a Cambodian refugee escaped from Khmer Rouge regime. He talks
about his experience in Cambodia, and about how he and his family arrived in
Vietnam.
He uses some photos and videos during his
exposition, and it is very important in my opinion because it has exactly the
goal of shocking the audience: indeed we can observe a series of stark pictures.
In the video the “Khmer Rouge” are always the subject, in active sentences, with
the clear purpose of assign to the regime several facts. They emerge like the “bad
guys” in this speech (and there are lot
of motivations for stating this also in the reality!)
With a careful analysis, we can point out an interesting use of repetitions too, that underline several concepts, putting
them in the center of attention of the listener: for example Sophal Ear said:” So my father and mother ended up in a
sort of concentration camp, labor camp.” And then: “But for
us it meant freedom. And freedom from persecution from the Khmer
Rouge.”
A lot of space is dedicated to the figure
of his mother- with the use of verbs in (above all) mental and verbal processes.
In the text we can find: “she spoke, she
decides, she would take the chance, she’d given, she was able to return”.
At the end there is an unequivocal thanks in
favour of his mother, who has really given the possibility to escape from
Cambodia: she becomes herself a reincarnation of the principle of freedom reaffirmed
many times by Sophal Ear.
What do you think about this speech?
According to you, which were the purposes of the author?
Michael Massarutto
This short story has touched and moved me, because often when I read an article about a real experience is difficult to catch the feelings of the person who had wrote the article; but thanks to the video a man can communicate what he thinks about, what is his idea and through the voice and expression he conveys what he feels.
RispondiEliminaIn this video I have felt very well the feeling of love of a mother to her son. The author tells in a quiet way the fear of choosing an action against a regime which had abused for many years of its power and had killed lots of people without valid motivations, but at the same time I understand the strength and the courage of this woman to get involved, decided to pass the boundary and had gone in Vietnam to try to save the life of her son and get their freedom.
For me, the author does not want to denounce the Khmer Rouge Regime, because there is a Tribunal which should be do that yet, but he want to underline the situation of a common family, who had been destroyed by actions from men who aspired to power through force and abuse and not through the respect and dignity of other people.