Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers

Rithy Panh's Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers is a revealing and sometimes cruelly honest documentary about lives that have become dehumanizing routine. Panh illuminates a lesser-seen, but not less vital segment of the Cambodian people, as he and his documentary crew follow disillusioned prostitutes living and working in Phnom Penh. Similar to S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine, Panh's style is neither didactic nor lecturing but is instead a tapestry woven by his subjects as they reenact and comment on their daily drudgery. Serving as a silent witness, Panh's camera nor his crew ever interfere, allowing these marginalised women to create their own indelible document.