The Killing Fields is a 1984 British biographical drama film about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is based on the experiences of two journalists, Cambodian Dith Pran and American Sydney Schanberg.

Sam Waterston stars as Schanberg, Haing S. Ngor as Pran, and John Malkovich as Al Rockoff.

At the 57th Academy Awards it received seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture; it won three, most notably Best Supporting Actor for Haing S. Ngor, who had no previous acting experience, as well as Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

In 1973 Phnom Penh, the Cambodian national army wages a civil war with the communist Khmer Rouge group.

Dith Pran, a Cambodian journalist and interpreter for The New York Times, awaits the arrival of reporter Sydney Schanberg at the city's airport, but leaves suddenly.

Pran, unharmed because he is a Cambodian civilian, negotiates to spare his friends' lives, and the group retreats to the French embassy.

In Cambodia, Pran has become a forced labourer under the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" policy, a return to the agrarian ways of the past.

Eventually, he escapes and stumbles upon one of the Pol Pot regime's Killing Fields before he is found unconscious on the riverside and taken in by a different cadre of Khmer Rouge.

However, rather than punishing him, Phat confides in Pran about his distrust of the Khmer Rouge leadership, and asks him to take ward of his son in the event that he is killed.

During the Khmer Rouge's border war with Vietnam, Pran discovers that Phat's son has American money and a map leading to safety.

I wrote to David saying that whoever made the film would have to be careful because it wasn't just a war story: it was about human connection, how friendships are born and what they do to us.

I didn't hear from him for six months, then we bumped into one another and he said he'd interviewed most of the directors in the world – including some very big names who would make the studios happy – but no one had really understood it.

[5] The Killing Fields holds a 93% rating and an average rating of 8.30/10 at the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews, with the consensus: "Artfully composed, powerfully acted, and fueled by a powerful blend of anger and empathy, The Killing Fields is a career-defining triumph for director Roland Joffé and a masterpiece of cinema.

"[6] Critic Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times: "The film is a masterful achievement on all the technical levels—it does an especially good job of convincing us with its Asian locations—but the best moments are the human ones, the conversations, the exchanges of trust, the waiting around, the sudden fear, the quick bursts of violence, the desperation.

Al Rockoff expressed dissatisfaction at the portrayals of himself and Schanberg,[9] while Denis Cameron sought to have his consultative credit removed upon watching the completed film.

The DVD includes special features such as the theatrical trailer, audio commentary with Roland Joffé, an interview with David Puttnam and a BBC documentary titled The Making of The Killing Fields.

In 2023, Australia's Imprint Films (a sublabel of the home media group ViaVision) released a 2-disc Blu-ray edition of The Killing Fields as part of the 4-film Directed By Roland Joffé box set.