We All Might Be Refugees

At the old Fountain Theater in Mesilla we saw a moving film (moving moving picture?): Funan, a complex animated feature that tells the story of a Cambodian family caught up in the Khmer Rouge madness of the late 1970's. It destroys their lives. Only one woman and her young son escape to Thailand, and ultimately to France. 

Very fine movie. Maybe the animation, though highly effective, helped distance us emotionally – just enough to make the unbearable bearable. The characters are 2D recreations of humans. (At some of the toughest moments, while I was contemplating a new horror visited upon the family, I was also thinking “Wow!” at the subtle way an animated face had changed, or at the slender white line that appeared, stretched itself, and quickly disappeared to indicate a tear.) 

Mother and son escaped. Filmmaker Denis Do dedicated the film to his mother and brother. Not hard to hazard a guess he's a young half-brother, born after their escape. (The husband gives his life to make sure they escape.) 

Animated or not, the film was effective. We witnessed normal lives destroyed, replaced by horrendous work-camps run by Khmer Rouge fanatics with automatic weapons, then by death or a harrowing escape, with nothing at all.

Afterward, a little shell-shocked, we walked through the familiar streets of Mesilla, where I lived nearly fifty years ago. The world felt secure again: solid adobe structures, peaceful streets, a mild autumn evening.

We are (mostly) not living in fear – nor escaping fear by migrating to a miserable border area lock-up.

Maybe it's obvious to think of those gentle Central American refugees who've washed up here this year, not long after their lives – partially but not wholly through our government's actions – fell apart and fleeing became the only real option.

But in those animated detainees/refugees, I see us too. Climate-change is here; and like the aliens from outer space in the old horror movies, it's going to grow voraciously and destroy the fabric of our lives.

Already two billion people on this planet are experiencing some degree of food insecurity due to climate-change; the climate is hinting that Hatch chile may not grow in Hatch much longer; superstorms have decimated Houston, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico, turning folks like us into homeless folks on cots in a big gym. In India, flooding from extra-heavy monsoon rains displaced more than 1,000,000 people – and killed hundreds. Galveston is asking the Dutch how to protect low-lying land. Alaska's sea ice melted for the first time this year – and Iceland has held a funeral for a dead glacier. Weather extremes during the last 20 years have killed people. In about 10 years, the warming will be about 50 percent greater than what we've experienced.

 

Maybe we'll all be refugees migrating North – or to a suddenly green Siberia, where we'll be at the mercy of Vlad Putin's successor.

Residents of Miami and Bangladesh and the Marshall Islands will suffer first – like the minor characters the monster eats before the protagonists wake up to the danger and get organized. We're safe for now. But this ain't some MGM epic and we're not stars, who can't die, and always win. 

Donald Trump says it's nonsense. Not worth getting upset over. So enjoy today's NFL football games.

But, if you've kids or grandkids, make time to study climate-change a little. For them.

                                                  -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 29 October 2019, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website [Don't Dismiss the Attack of the Changing Climate] and on KRWG's website [Make Time to Study Climate Change].  A spoken version will also be available shortly on KRWG's website and will air during the week on KRWG (Wednesday and Saturday) and Thursday on KTAL, 101.5 FM, Las Cruces Community Radio (www.lccommunityradio.org).]

[Funan is no longer at the Fountain, but for those who saw it and wondered about things, I've inserted below a portion of an interview with Denis Do that's on-line at https://blog.toonboom.com/10-questions-with-denis-do-director-of-cristal-award-winner-funan:

I read Funan was inspired by your mother’s life in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. How much of the film was drawn from reality?

DD: There was a balance between sticking to the historical reality and creating the film’s environment. My goal wasn’t only to represent, but to also re-appropriate the pictures and memories — to make them live and to live with them. Animation is perfect for such a task.

Funan is based on personal and historical events, but it is also a work of fiction. We took creative liberties in terms of script and imagery. Because the content is based on my family’s story, it has followed me from my childhood until now. It was inevitable that I would do something with it because this heritage is very strong in my mind — and will stay like that forever.

Source: Les Films D’Ici.

The film also touches on a point very relevant in today’s world: The life of the exile, the migrant. I’m sensitive to this as I am a second-generation immigrant. My family has a long history of exile; my grandparents left China during the Japanese invasion and fled Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. Such a background impacts you and the way you think, through generations. I always have the feeling this life can stop, everything can turn bad and we will need to leave again.

With such serious subject matter, why did you feel it was important to tell this story through animation?

DD: Animation let me avoid representing the character of my mother through a real actress. Also, while animation might have less space for spontaneity, it allows for greater control at each step of production. Funding the film was quite interesting; Funan is not based on a famous novel or comics, was my first movie and had adult content — the ingredients of making a project hard to fund.

Thanks to the French funding system and other European sources, we were able to start Funan. To be honest, the budget was still not enough. Artwork was made during the night, on weekends and during free time. The last two years of production were intense. We worked with six studios around the world, each with a small part of the film to do. Having funding meant the film could be made, but it never meant it would be easy or comfortable.

And why did you decide to pursue a hand-drawn 2D animation style?

DD: I love 2D animation and I am very sensitive to Japanese productions. Their storytelling is very efficient, avoiding useless actions. As I wanted less movements and actions, it was natural for me to think about 2D animation.