Review of The Road to Guantanamo (2006) by Michael J. S — 20 Sep 2010

I just recently watched Michael Winterbottom's 2006 film The Road To Guantanamo, and despite his rather hilarious surname, his Guantanamo is an intense docudrama that seamlessly blends real interviews with reenactments. The story follows three young British detainees at the detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Irony. Following the premier of the film in Berlin, four of the actors were detained at London Luton Airport for nearly an hour. Police verbally assaulted them, denied them phone calls, questioned their views on the Iraq war and even tried to persuade them to become informants for the police.

The police released a statement saying that with the advent of the Terrorism Act officials may "stop and examine people if something happens that might be suspicious". However, the police never explained what it was that the four actors did to be labeled suspicious.

It's irony, but it's also ridiculous. The actors who played the detainees were detained. I understand closely monitoring airport traffic, but racial profiling isn't cool. One point for Michael Winterbottom for A) having that surname, and B) for making a fine film. One point stricken from Airports for being lame.

Score: 4/5.