Review of Taxi to the Dark Side (2008) by Steve P — 26 Feb 2011

Before stating anything specific about the film itself, I just want to make a note of how powerful this film was for me. After viewing it, I found the information about US torture so compelling and disgusting, I spent hours upon hours researching it further, partaking in book studies, and eventually co-authoring a lengthy presentation which we took to over 100 churches in Iowa. I have now partaken in over 40 protests against torture and indefinite detention here, and when I trace all of that activity back to its roots, this film was definitely one of the biggest kick-starts.

Alex Gibney is at the helm here, a man who previously directed what I considered the best documentary I had seen at the time -"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". Here he presents another thoroughly researched, packed-to-the-brim look at the torture of many, many men, but smartly centers it around the story of one. This man's name is Dilawar, and he was only 22 years old when he was taken away from his wife and young child. He was turned over by guards hired by the US for local security around Fire Base Salerno, then transferred to Bagram Air Base where he was brutally tortured to death in five days by US soldiers.

The film examines this through interviews with both soldiers and detainees, expanding as it moves forward to encompass many important aspects of modern torture of which people may be unaware. Amongst these is the shift in democracies to torture techniques that leave no traditionally visible scars. Are psychological torture techniques any less brutal than those utilized during the Inquisition? The answer is generally "no". Does torture retrieve accurate information? No. Was Dilawar's story the result of "a few bad apples" rather than being a systematic problem? No.

The list goes on and on, until by the film's end it would be astonishing if any sane person left the room without being outraged. It is a film that helps destroy the dark void between our own families here and the families of those abroad, who are often destroyed by the military our tax dollars fund. It is a film that demands action and I hope that if you watch it, you will get off the couch and do something about what you've seen.