Film Analysis: A River Changes Course

“Whether you’re fisherman or a slave of the Chinese. It might be easier if I worked where I could hold a book and pen” Sari Math says. That’s the aspiration of the young Cambodian man who lives in a rural Cambodia. With the poor conditions of lives, they don’t have enough ability to control their lives. That’s a piece of the stories in A River Changes Course which is a 2013 documentary film by Kalyanee Mam. She is a Cambodian American, and she is shocked when she first sees what Cambodia looks like. The film shows how Cambodians struggle to their lives and how they cope with it. The film also shows how beautiful of the nature. However, they are going to be destroyed soon by the companies and the government. The movie tells about three families …show more content…
Deficiency of education conditions can’t help Cambodian get rid of the harshness of life. Following to Mam’s film, Sari Math is an example for people who really need the advances of education. He and his sister have to quit school to support their family in the fishing seasoning (Mam). Sari Math said almost all of the people in his fishing hamlet, they just go to school to fifth grade, and then they quit (Mam). He is a rarely person who can maintain to seventh grade (Mam). And what he gets for studying is no table to use, limit papers to write. That is the reason why people in his fishing hamlet can’t get another better job than fisherman. Unfortunately, the problem is the fish catch dwindles (Mam). Their resource of live is running out because of over fish catching. In another detail, the Chinese come to ask them to work on a cassava farm (Mam). Almost people in the fishing hamlet come to work there because they need money to take care of their family (Mam). Because lack of education, they can take any job that help them feed their family. Thus, everything they need is education. The future of young Cambodian is blur by the poor conditions of education. They don’t have enough knowledge to get a better job. Sari says if he could study he would get a good job and buy a house in a land for his parents. He doesn’t want to live in the boat, and float in the river every day because he knows that is the big barrier for him to …show more content…
Those situations are just the illustrations for some of the main types of live issues, economic issues. And the solution is the advances of educations. If all people have good conditions of education, they will have a bigger chance to reach their dreams. Poor conditions of education make a huge barrier for Cambodian to take the promotions of their lives because they don’t have enough knowledge to explore their future. For environmental issues, government also should take care and protect the environment instead of destroying it. When they cut down a forest, they must build up another one which is the same size or larger. Kalyanee Mam doesn’t only show us how Cambodian are struggling and coping to their lives, but also shows us the general problem in the world. Economic issues and environmental issues are the significant issues that people around the world concern about. What can we do to eliminate those problems, and help everyone have a better life to live?