Review of Taxi to the Dark Side (2008) by Tiffany Y — 04 Aug 2009

Taxi to the Dark Side is an essential viewing for people interested in the War in Iraq or people against our own government. While not everything is completely new (I'm certain most people know our government is a bit corrupt), this documentary definitely sheds some insight into how far our government will go.

The editing within the documentary is very top class. The people are shown speaking, then given a nice title card that helps you learn their name and full position within the Army. Not only that, the director knows when to leave the camera sitting on there for extended periods to emphasize their pain from the situation.

The soundtrack is even pretty decent. While most documentaries try to just present their ideas, Dark Side uses from tense music for scenes of torture and slow, steady music for the moments of drama.

What else really shines in this film is how the documentary is almost set up like a story. The events being described all take place chronologically, so your thoughts never stray during the film. You learn what happened first, what continued and how the situation was resolved (sort of).

While not much of the information is really new, having all of this in a personal and tight package will definitely preserve this gray spot in our history for generations to come.

There isn't much else I can describe without ruining the impact of this documentary, but I will say again that it is required for people with even the slightest bit of interest in the War in Iraq.