PARK CITY, UTAH ? After seeing numerous films here, the ones that stand out even in our sleep-deprived state are two documentaries that tackle Asian figures and tragedies.

Hard to shake off are the impact and images of ?Enemies of the People,? an account of the people behind the Killing Fields of Cambodia in the late 1970s. This docu?s chief asset is its co-director, Thet Sambath, a charismatic investigative journalist who devotes almost 10 years of his life gaining the trust of the Khmer Rouge men and women who massacred about two million people.

Fascinating subject

Appearing also on camera as he goes to the homes of the key people who perpetrated the slaughters, Thet gets chilling stories from soldiers who were responsible for the Killing Fields. These men recount how they ate the bladder of some of the people they killed. One man said that although the taste of bladder is bitter, he believed it cooled down his skin.

Thet is a fascinating subject by himself. He has dinners at the house of Pol Pot?s feared right hand man, Nuon Chea, who is called Brother Number Two (Pol Pot was Brother Number One). Nuon is just as engrossing, appearing like a normal, retired grandfatherly figure that belies his sinister part in the Khmer Rouge massacres. Thet intentionally waits for a long time before he finally reveals to Nuon that he lost his parents and siblings in the Killing Fields.

Thet?s saga of tracking down these brutal killers is balanced by interviews with his family, especially his wife, who asks before the camera why her husband can?t be like a normal person with a regular job in an air-conditioned office. She also confesses that sometimes she?s angry with him about his frequent absences in pursuit of this personal mission but she keeps quiet about it.

Toward the end, ?Enemies of the People? shows the octogenarian Nuon being arrested and tried for his role in the slaughters. The film, co-directed by Rob Lemkin, closes with harrowing photos and film footage of the Killing Fields.

Also engrossing was ?Bhutto,? a docu on the life and times of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former Pakistani prime minister and the first woman to lead an Islamic nation. Directed by Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O?Hara (the latter wrote), the film paints an absorbing portrait of Bhutto and her politically prominent family.

Benazir obviously got her fierce determination and bravery from her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan. The docu shows the famous banter between Benazir?s father and then president John F. Kennedy. In his visit to the White House, Zulfikar was told by Kennedy that if he were an American, he?d be in his cabinet. Zulfikar famously replied that if he were an American, he?d be President of the US.

Heartbreaking visit

Also riveting audiences here is ?Last Train Home,? another Asian-themed docu. Directed by Lixin Fan, the film is about how during each New Year?s holiday in China, over a million migrant workers go home to their families. For most of these migrants, this annual trip is the only time they see their families.

Zeroing in on a couple, Changhua and Sugin Zhang, ?Last Train?? shows their heartbreaking visit with their two children. The Zhangs left their children when they were just infants.

Email the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.