I'm getting ready to take a trip to Cambodia with my wife in November. We have a friend, a physician, who is doing HIV work in Phnom Penh. We'll be visiting him and his wife there for a few days.

As is my custom, I'm reading as much as I can about Cambodia before I leave. One of the things I've been reading about is S-21, Tuol Sleng prison, where the Khmer Rouge tortured and executed an estimated 14,000 people between 1975 and 1979.

Only seven people survived Tuol Sleng. One of them, Vann Nath, was a talented painter who survived by painting portraits of Pol Pot for the director of the prison.

I recently watched a documentary about S-21, directed by Cambodian-born director Rithy Panh. Rithy Panh reunited Vann Nath with his Tuol Sleng captors- teen agers at the time, and now grown men- over a three year period at the prison, which is now a museum documenting the genocidal practices of the Khmer Rouge.

What is immediately apparent viewing the film is how much grace Vann Nath conducts himself with- he is truly inspiring- but also how damaged the torturers are. They are numb, disconnected, and occasionally regretful. They were rural teenagers at the time, indoctrinated and threatened by the party leaders.

I really recommend the film. It's on DVD. Not easy viewing but probably important for Americans to see as we so glibly toss around our opinions about the merits of torture.

Here's a link: ttp://http://www.amazon.com/S21-Khmer-Rouge- Killing- Machine/dp/B0007TKORS

Vann Nath became the chronicler of the events of Tuol Sleng by painting his memories of his experiences. He is as close to a national hero as Cambodia has (he is now dying of kidney failure). His paintings hang in the Tuol Sleng museum reflecting his life at S-21 and the reality of torture. Again very difficult to look at but here's a link if you're interested:

http://www.btinternet.com/~andy.brouwer/ vannnath.htmYou'll have to copy these links into your browser to get to where I'm trying to guide you. I checked the links and they aren't working correctly. Sorry. Still worth checking out.