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Dith Pran isn't jealous that Haing S. Ngor became famous by playing him in the movie "The Killing Fields." On the contrary, Pran is pleased that Ngor got so much attention.
"I'm not jealous, because he did a good job," said Pran, who was in the Twin Cities this week to speak at the College of St. Thomas. "He got my story out, and that wasn't easy. If we had found some actor who could not perform, it would have been useless. So I'm glad he won an Academy Award."
The movie, released two years ago, shows Pran's suffering at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime after the invasion of his homeland in 1975, and it details his horrific escape. Pran, 44, who worked as a consultant on the movie, said the story of his suffering had to be watered down for the film.
"We had to soften the details because we were told that American audiences did not want to see how bad it really was," he said. "It would have been too difficult to watch. As it was, it still was pretty tough. I've gotten letters from people saying, `I never cried until I saw you suffer.' It's not 100 percent (of the story), but I think it's fair. The story came out."
Although he became a U.S. citizen last February, Pran - now a photographer for the New York Times - feels a responsibility to his Cambodian heritage. He doesn't want people to forget that an estimated 2 million of Cambodia's 7 million people have died during the Khmer Rouge siege. "We hear about the Jewish holocaust, but nothing...