The wind whispers of fear and hate. The war has killed love. And those that confess to the Angka are punished, and no one dare ask where they go. Here, only the silent survive.
They tell us that God is dead. And now the Party, they call the Angka, will provide everything for us. He says, Angka has identified and proclaims that the existence of a bad new disease, a memory sickness like those that think too much about life in pre-revolutionary Cambodia. He says, we are surrounded by enemies. The enemy is inside us. No one can be trusted.
We must be like the ox and have no thought, except for the Party. No laugh, but for the Uncle. People starve, but we must not grow food. We must honor the comrade children, whose minds are not corrupted by the past.
I’m a reporter too, Morgan! I know his heart. I love him like my brother, and I’d do anything for him! Anything!
Sydney, Angka says that those who were guilty of soft living in the years of the great struggle and did not care for the sufferings of the peasant, must confess. Because, now is the year zero and everything is to start anew.
Tell my wife I love her and look after all my children. She doesn’t speak any English, Sydney. Please, I don’t want anyone to be bad to my wife.
I’m full of fear, Sydney. I must show no understanding. Not of French or English. I must have no past, Sydney. This is the year zero and nothing has gone before.
