THE GATE - Francois Bizot

Francois Bizot was the only Westerner to survive imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. Bizot arrived in Cambodia in 1965 to study Buddhism practiced in the
Cambodian countryside. He traveled extensively inside Cambodia, researching the history and customs of Cambodia's dominant religion. He spoke fluent Khmer,
French and English and was married to a Cambodian. When the Vietnam War spilled into Cambodia, Bizot was employed at the Angkor Conservation Office, restoring ceramics and bronzes.
In October 1971, Bizot and his two Cambodian colleagues were captured by the Khmer Rouge. During his captivity on charges of being a CIA agent at the Khmer Rouge Camp M.13 at Anlong Veng he developed a strangely close relationship with his captor, Comrade Duch, who later became the Director of the infamous Tuol Sleng concentration camp in Phnom Penh. During his 3-month imprisonment he came to understand the true genocidal nature of the Khmer Rouge long before other outsiders. He was finally released in December 1971 after Comrade Duch wrote a detailed report that convinced the Khmer Rouge leadership of Bizot's innocence. Bizot's Cambodian colleagues were executed soon after Bizot's release.

This is a restrained memoir, given the violence and horror of the events it covers. Much of the book focuses on Bizot's complex relationship with his captor, Douch, who later went on to commit the atrocities that we now associate with the Khmer Rouge time in power. Bizot avoids sensationalism and writes with great dignity about his ordeals. At times I found the book hard to follow and couldn't keep track of all the characters but I am glad that I stuck with it. In part I chose to read this book because a UN backed tribunal has just begun its investigation of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime and I wanted some background in order to have a clearer perspective when the inevitable atrocities emerge. Douch is one of those currently awaiting trial. It will likely take years to fit the pieces of this puzzle together. After all, it's taken 30 years for Bizot to sort out and come to terms with his own experience.