Angelina Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt have made every effort to ensure their adopted children stay in touch with their roots.
And 13 years after adopting her oldest son Maddox from Cambodia, Angelina has returned to the country with him and his five siblings.
She and Brad were pictured taking their youngest children Shiloh, nine and seven-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne shopping at the Old Market in Siem Reap on Sunday.
They bought items from a market stall, in the colourful bazaar, before riding off on a tuk-tuk.
The couple are currently in the city researching locations for Angelina’s upcoming Netflix movie, First They Killed My Father, which she co-wrote and will direct.
Maddox himself will be heavily involved in the production of the film – a deliberate attempt by his mother to ensure he connects with the country of his birth.
‘As Maddox and I prepare the film we will be side by side learning about his country,’ Jolie explained earlier this year.
‘He is 14 and this is a very important time for him to understand who he is. He is my son but he is also a son of Cambodia.
‘This is the time for our family to understand all that that means to him and to us.’
The mother-of-six chose as her subject for the new movie a harrowing memoir by Cambodian human rights activist Loung Ung First.
Shot through the eyes of a war-scarred child, the film throws the spotlight on Cambodia’s devastating 1970s holocaust under the communist Khmer Rouge – which is blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
Angelina, who also raises children Pax, 11, and Zahara, ten, with her husband, hopes working on the film will give Maddox a greater understanding of his identity as he reaches adulthood.
The devoted humanitarian has traveled to Cambodia on numerous occasions to do research for the film, which will begin filming on location next month.
‘My desire to tell this story in the most truthful and accurate way possible will be my tribute to the strength and dignity of all Cambodian people,’ she said.
The actress has been fascinated with the country ever since she filmed 2001 hit action movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider at Cambodia’s famous Angkor Wat temple complex.
In 2002 she adopted Maddox, then aged just seven months, from an orphanage in western Cambodia. Her now husband Brad jointly adopted Maddox in 2006, changing his surname to Jolie-Pitt.
In 2005, Angelia was granted Cambodian citizenship by royal decree in recognition of her environmental work in the Southeast Asian nation.
She has set up the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which focuses on poverty and environmental programs, and recently revealed Maddox, now 14, would be taking over her duties when he’s old enough.
The actress has tried her hand at directing before, starting in 2011 with Bosnian war drama In The Land of Blood and Honey and then when she tackled the Louis Zamperini biopic Unbroken last year.
Her most recent directorial effort, By The Sea, is to be released this year and stars both her and Brad Pitt for the first time since they fell in love on the set of Mr & Mrs Smith.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
