Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars , stating that it was Jolie 's best work as a director yet , made without any compromise to its " journalistic " storytelling . He noted that " t he ace in Jolie 's deck here is the knowledge that a girl as young as Loung ca n't comprehend the larger meaning of what 's happening to her , and is therefore unlikely to expend precious emotional energy connecting cause-and-effect dots or lamenting what was lost . It 's an almost entirely experiential movie . " He later named it the second best film of the year , behind '' Lucky '' , stating that it is " o ne of the greatest films about war ever made , as well as one of the best films about childhood ... . I ca n't imagine a frame of this film being better , only different . " The film was selected as the Cambodian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 90th Academy Awards , but it was not nominated . It was the first time a prominent American director 's non-English film was submitted since the Academy set a rule in 1984 that a country 's submission has " artistic control " from a " creative talent of that country " ; Jolie has dual citizenship with the U.S. and Cambodia
90th Academy Awards
90th Academy Awards
First They Killed My Father (film)