Song
The memories.
Lots of memories.
Vutha
This is a story about betrayal and eternal guilt.
Song
They keep coming back as the spokes of a turning wheel.
Always the same.
Vutha (whispering)
We are in a little hut.
I see Mister Rithy and his mother.
They sit close together.
Mister Rithy is 51 years old. He had lost the lust for life.
His mother is 76 years old. She is the guardian of her son.
Listen to the mother.
Song
As the spokes of a wheel.
The wheel turns in my head.
Vutha
Listen to the mother.
Mother
We live in sadness.
My son has problems with his head. He constantly strokes his head as if it hurts.
My son is sick. Tied to his misery.
My son is not a bad man.
He never was one of them.
But that day way back, when they took him to prison, that day destroyed our lives.
Voice
They put him in prison?
Mother
They tied him up.
They wanted names.
Mr. Rithy
I did not give names.
Mother
They beat him.
Voice
You gave them names.
Mother
They tortured him.
Mr. Rithy
I gave them 2 names.
Voice
You denounced a lot of people.
Mother
They burned his hands, his feet.
Voice
You sent many people to the white bone village.
Mr. Rithy
They hung me upside down.
I gave them 5 names.
They nearly drowned me.
I gave them 8 names.
They nearly whipped me to death.
Mother
He was crying like a turtle placed on a fire.
Mr. Rithy
I denounced whoever came to my mind.
10 names, 20 names. Names and names until they were satisfied.
Voice
You gave them 30 names.
If each of them gave 30 or 40 names, and so on, within a year or two, there would be no one left.
Mother
He did not want to do that.
Who killed whom? I did not know.
Mr. Rithy
I think of the dead everyday. I pray to the gods that if I denounced them, their spirits will not suffer the consequences.
Day after day it still torments my heart. It haunts me everyday why I am not dead myself.
Song
The memories.
Lots of memories.
They keep coming back as the spokes of a turning wheel.
Always the same.
As the spokes of a wheel.
The wheel turns in my head.
Vutha
Mr. Rithy, if one of the dead came back to life, how would you react?
What would you do?
Mr. Rithy
That would make me extremely happy. I would bow deep down and ask for forgiveness. And ask the dead to lift the Bad Karma.
Sokly
Who is bad, who is good.
How bad is bad, how good is good.
What is de country we give to our children.
Song
Oath of Allegiance
by Ou Sam Oeur
If I am a rake.
Let me not survive.
If I’m just a weight on the earth.
Let me drop dead.
Let me sink with the sun.
If I’m noncommittal.
To the land of Kok Thlok.
