Harrowing trailer for Angelina Jolie's First They Killed My Father

The first trailer has arrived for Angelina Jolie’s latest directorial effort, ‘First They Killed My Father,’ and it suggests a compelling, painful true life drama.

Based on the memoir of the same name by Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung, ‘First They Killed My Father’ is told from the author’s perspective between the ages of five and nine, during the brutal regime of the Khymer Rouge, the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia, led by Pol Pot.

Child actress Sareum Srey Moch makes her debut as the young Loung Ung, and we’re told the film “depicts the indomitable spirit and devotion of Loung and her family as they struggle to stay together.”

It might help to go in knowing that the young protagonist will make it out okay – but even so, this doesn’t like it will make for easy viewing.

‘First They Killed My Father’ is Jolie’s fifth film as director, and would appear to explore similar themes of hardship and endurance in the face of war as seen in her earlier features ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’ and ‘Unbroken.’

The film has unfortunately attracted some controversy in recent days, with Jolie refuting claims that child actors in the casting process were emotionally manipulated during an improvisational acting exercise.

As well as directing and co-writing, Jolie also produces alongside Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Pahn. Academy Award winner Anthony Dod Mantle of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is the director of photography, and Jolie’s Cambodian-born adopted son Maddox Jolie-Pitt is an executive producer.

‘First They Killed My Father’ is released simultaneously to Netflix and cinemas on 15 September.

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