Revealing mistake: Shortly after Sydney arrives at Pnom Penh he sits at a street cafe with Al Rockoff, the photographer. When a bomb explodes on the other side of the street they seem to be engulfed by flames, but when the camera cuts to the place where the bomb went off it's burning like a small log fire, and all people in between don't seem to be harmed by the fire ball in any way. (00:05:55)
Audio problem: When Sydney is listening to an American radio report during dinner, he says "I can't eat," but his lips aren't in sync with the words. (00:30:15)
Continuity mistake: When Sydney is typing a report there are a lamp, a statue, and a whiskey bottle on his desk. In the next shot the number of bottles goes up to two. Then again you see only one bottle, the lamp has changed from straight to bulbous, and all items are totally rearranged. (00:32:10)
Continuity mistake: For the scene where Sydney and Pran talk about leaving Pnom Penh the editor mixed two takes: one with Sydney's hair nicely parted and Pran's face dripping with sweat, and the other one with Sydney's hair a wild mess and Pran's face absolutely dry. (00:33:35)
Continuity mistake: When the protagonists are trying to get to the French embassy they pass a VW beetle whose windshield is smashed by a Red Khmer. The camera angle is not very helpful but if you look closely you see that the window is gone already, and the pieces flying over the hood are from the bit of glass that sticks in the frame. (00:56:50)
Continuity mistake: At the French embassy someone is playing a piano on which you see in close-up a champagne bottle and a glass. In the next, wide shot bottle and glass are gone, and then another man comes along carrying exactly those two items, and places them on the piano. (01:00:30)
Continuity mistake: When a high-ranking Cambodian politician is taken out of the French embassy by the Red Khmer, the gate is opened and closed with a latch on the side. Then the camera looks through the gate at the leaving car, and now the gate has two wings with a chain and a lock in the middle. (01:02:35)
Continuity mistake: When Rockoff takes Pran's picture for his fake passport he is using a Rollei with the eyepiece on top. Seen from behind he is looking into it standing behind the camera, seen from the front he is standing on the side. (01:09:15)
Continuity mistake: When Pran is working in a mud pit his face is covered with sarcoma-like rashes. When he sits down to have his 'lunch' the rashes are in different places, e.g. a new one right next to his nose. (01:26:25)
Continuity mistake: In the concentration camp children get taught to cut themselves off from their parents. There is a blackboard with a painting of a house and a family with something written on top in Cambodian. A child comes and crosses out the parents. When the camera angle changes the cross is different, and the writing on top is gone (a part of it should be visible even though a smaller area of the blackboard is shown). (01:29:15)
Revealing mistake: When the village where Pran is hiding as a servant is bombed, you see a lot of stuntmen performing elegant jumps as if they were doing gymnastics, some long after the impact of the bomb would have hit them. (01:56:50)
Continuity mistake: When the man who Pran works for as a servant is shot he falls on his back and is dead. In the next shot he is lying face-down. (01:59:20)
