Review of Taxi to the Dark Side (2008) by David F — 16 May 2009
A stunning and appalling look at how the Bush administration condoned the cruel treatment and torture of detainees in Bagram and Gitmo since 2002. Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney won the 2007 delivers a searing, absorbing examination of the U.
S. government's increased proclivity for inhumanity in the pursuit of "evil-doers" in the war on terror. Focusing on an innocent Afghani taxi driver named Dilawar, who was beaten to death in 2002 by American soldiers after being wrongfully imprisoned for 5 days.
Gibney expands from there to take viewers back to the horrific events of 9/11 to 2008, where the Bush administration, in concert with the armed forces and intelligence communities, continue to employ brutal tactics that bend the rule of law, not to mention the Geneva convention.
It's a sickening film but a necessary and educatuonal one. Several images are shown from the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs, along with Dilawar's autopsy photos. Unsettling images moreso because of what happened yet similiar to other equally clear-eyed (and equally damning) films like "No End in Sight", there is no forced political agenda.
Gibney (who also narrates) has comments from several players in the Bush administration, as well as journalists, detainees and disgraced soldiers. - He seeks to pull apart the issue of torture and why America, knowing the limited success of such tactics, continues to use it.
Perhaps most infuriating is that more than one interviewee suggests that the actions of the last five years will have considerable impact upon the future of America's relationship with the world. Such a bloody, cocky approach to foreign relations, human rights and war-time conduct has potentially done far more damage than anyone could have predicted.
Despite its clear-eyed dissection of such troubling events, especially the murder of a hapless, helpless taxi driver, feels like a cautionary tale that's come just a bit too late, just after the worst has happened.
As it is, it's a stomach-turning glimpse of what might await our own soldiers and citizens in the years to come.
This review of Taxi to the Dark Side (2008) was written by David F on 16 May 2009.
Taxi to the Dark Side has generally received very positive reviews.
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