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Taxi To the Dark Side
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Manufacturer: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Starring: Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg, Willie Brand, George W. Bush
Directed By: Alex Gibney
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Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0014381494020
Format: AC-3
Label: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Manufacturer: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2008-09-30
Running Time: 106
Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
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Editorial Reviews:
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Oscarr-nominated director Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) investigates the torture and killing of an innocent Afghani taxi driver in this gripping probe into reckless abuses of government power. Disturbing and incisive, the Academy Awardr-winner Taxi To The Dark Side incorporates rare and never-before-seen images from inside the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons into its exposure of the Bush administration's "global war on terror." This stunningly crafted narrative demonstrates how this one man's life and death symbolizes the erosion of our civil rights and how what it means to be an American has changed forever.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: First-rate documentary filmmaking
Comment: A damning and impassioned examination of use of torture by the United States on suspected terrorists after the September 11th attacks, stretching from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Iraq.
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Summary: Do They Really Want It Hidden?
Comment: Yes, the torture depicted in this film is an embarrassment and a possible war crime. Yes, the Administration under whose auspices it occurred seems to relish secrecy above all else. And yet, one has to wonder if perhaps there was a reason to let it be revealed which overrode all the reasons for keeping it hidden. Namely, to de-sensitize the American public to the very idea of torture. The fact that as much as 40% of the American people "approve" of torture is not a statistic to be taken lightly. And now the people have seen it in action, not merely read about it in news reports. The simple truth is, torture will be easier, not harder, to get away with the next time around - because the precedent has been set and now people are beginning to get used to the idea of it. Each of the former soldiers interviewed (many of whom are or have been on trial) expressed great remorse; but at the time they were executing the torture, their focus was only on doing their duty, not questioning it. The most telling (and most chilling) piece of these soldiers' story was that they each took a turn at kicking Dilwar's legs because they didn't know that someone else already had - it wasn't a case of them all standing around kicking him again and again but of each kicking him as part of his own independent interrogation regime. So, if these soldiers are to be believed, it was a lack of communication more than anything else that killed Dilwar. Apparently, it wasn't important to coordinate the soldiers' efforts to extract information - which makes you wonder if information was ever the goal of the "interrogation." So, ironically, it's more the gross incompetence and inefficiency of torture than the sheer brutality of it that may convince people to outlaw it once and for all.
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Summary: Required Viewing for Every American
Comment: Quite simply the most important documentary made in recent years.
Here is the true shame of the Bush administration -- the complete disregard for the Geneva Conventions in the prosecution of the "war on terror".
Most shocking of all is the revelation that one of the key pieces of "intelligence" on which Colin Powell based his rationale for the Iraq War was false, the claim of a prisoner tortured into confessing what his captors wanted to hear.
Powell states that the day he pitched the war at the United Nations, relying on this grossly deficient intelligence, was one of the most "embarrassing" of his life.
Embarrassing? More appropriate words might be "tragic", "disastrous", or "unconscionable".
Worse, the Bush administration policy of employing torture, kangaroo courts, and the suspension of habeus corpus -- in defiance of the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions -- came right from the top.
Here is Cheney snarling that these methods were necessary in the war on terror. Here is Bush trying to sell the need for "harsh" interrogation techniques as late as 2006. Here are presidential counsel John Yoo and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales trying to redefine "torture" as an acceptable component in prosecuting a war.
The whole lot of them should be made to experience 40 hours of sleep deprivation, or forced standing, or waterboarding -- to see for themselves why these forms of coercion bring us down to the level of any terrorists walking the planet.
FOR SHAME! FOR SHAME!
Let us hope that Barack Obama can help lead us back from this precipice of damnation to the brighter path Americans have chosen in previous generations.
The DVD also includes special features not included in the theatrical release of the film. Most notable of these is an interview with former President Jimmy Carter, who calls the Bush torture policies a disgrace as well as a sharp break with traditional American values.
The director's father also makes an appearance. He was an intelligence officer during WWII and the Korean War, and he rightly compares the Bush thugs to Hitler's goons back in Nazi Germany.
"Taxi to the Dark Side" is a film EVERY American needs to see, whatever your political leaning.
(P.S. another reviewer here has claimed this film condones torture. Huh? Was this person paying an iota of attention? "Taxi" condemns torture in no uncertain terms, you may be sure...)
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Summary: prosecutable war crimes
Comment: On December 5, 2002, an Afghan taxi driver named Diliwar was taken to America's prison at the Bagram Air Force Base. Five days later he was dead. At first the military said that he had died of "natural causes," but in a later inquiry the coroner testified that his lower body had been "pulpified." On his death certificate issued by the military the box marked "homicide" was checked. Taxi to the Dark Side won an Academy Award as best documentary for portraying detainee abuse and torture at Bagram, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo. There are at least 83,000 detainees in US custody; over 108 of them have died, at least 37 by homicide. The film combines interviews with the military police who interrogated Diliwar, genuine heroes in this sordid story like Alberto Mora (General Counsel to the Navy 2001-2006), grotesque still photos that shock the conscience, justifications of the abuse by John Yoo, and commentary by investigative reporters and attorneys. If you think that this film exaggerates, or if you still believe that American torture consisted of some isolated incidents by a "few bad apples," and was not official public policy engineered by our top officials, then read the books by Philippe Sands, Torture Team; Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values (New York: Palgrave, 2008), and Jane Mayer, The Dark Side; The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (New York: Doubleday, 2008).
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Summary: "God Mend Thy Every Flaw"/"Do the Ends Justify the Means?"
Comment: `Taxi to the Dark Side' is an eye-opener. Starting with the case of Dilawar, a taxi driver from Afghanistan, the documentary traces the lives of terrorist suspects imprisoned in Bagram in Afghanistan; Abu Graib in Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba. Showing ample evidence of beatings and abuse, the film has several photographs and much testimony with which to work.
Among the interviewees are some of the suspects who were either court marshaled or imprisoned for their offenses when the scandal became public. Pfc. Damien Corsetti, Sgt. Ken Davies, and Pfc. Willie Brand, among many others, testify about their roles and interrogation methods with the detainees. Effectively, the film makes connections with memos and other evidence to show that there was pressure for these subordinates to take "any means possible" to provide intelligence.
Before viewing the documentary, the news revealed some of the tactics of allegedly "a few bad apples". The use of mean dogs, long seclusion, handcuffs while shackling, beatings, and waterboarding are some of the methods recounted here. The movie also chronicles the brutal deaths of some of the inmates at these facilities.
The film also reveals that only about 7% of detainees were captured by U.S. forces, and many Pakistanis and Afghanis were given large money rewards for the capture of alleged terrorists. Between these pressures and some of the words of Former Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and Vice President, Dick Cheney, the documentary makes a compelling case about a "mean, nasty business" where weasel words like what's done in prison is in "the eye of the beholder" were used.
While I would still like to see a documentary that investigates the beheadings of allies, `Taxi to the Dark Side' presents poignant testimony for matters that went wrong. One of the best testimonies is by writer/director, Alex Gibney's father, Frank B.Gibney, a former navy interrogator, who said in regard to our conduct during war before 9/11, "It was what made America different." Much of the scandal was unveiled by New York Times investigative reporter, Tim Golden, yet some of the most convincing moments come from the life and senate questioning of Senator John McCain, who gives an authoritative presence to an unflinching film with a convincing composite.
Do the ends justify the means? `Taxi to the Dark Side' makes enough of a case where everyone will be forced to come up with an answer.
('Taxi to the Dark Side' is the most recent Best Documentary Oscar winner.)
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