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THE ROAD TO GUANTÁNAMO Send This Review to a Friend
The world knows of the scandalous conditions that exist in the imprisonment of detainees at Guantánamo. Filmmakers Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross have unleashed a film that reconfirms how unworthy the whole operation is for the reputation of the United States. “The Road to Guantάnamo” is an odd hybrid, part documentary part enactment, that focuses on three British citizens who were scooped up in Afghanistan, eventually sent to the military prison and held without charges for two years, then finally freed.
The “Tipton Three” as they became known, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhel Ahmed, tell their stories to the cameras. The film also dramatizes their saga with actors. What began as a trip as a wedding party turned into a nightmare. The three have maintained their innocence of any links to terrorism and insist that they were merely caught up in a net through unfortunate circumstances.
The heart of the report is the detailing of the conditions to which they and others have been subjected and the thrust of the film is to spotlight the illegalities, including torture and imprisonment without charges or provable accusations.
Watching this film is a jolting experience, as Winterbottom and Whitecross know how to achieve maximum impact. Whether one accepts the story totally as the three tell it, there is no cause to doubt the conditions they describe and that are enacted, given all that has come to light about Guantánamo from a variety of sources. The film effectively adds further to the mounting evidence that the prison should be closed and that America must reverse course. A Roadside Attractions release.
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