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TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE Send This Review to a Friend
There is more than enough in this film study, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” to increase the ire of those already outraged by the Bush administration’s policies of incarceration and the facilitating of torture of those seized and accused as terrorists without regard for human rights. Directed by Alex Gibney (“Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”), the film takes off from the murder of Dilawar, a taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, after he mysteriously disappeared. The filmmaker follows his trail and his background, and expands into a detailed, interview-filled documentary probing the grim results of the administration policies.
We already have seen some of the horrifying pictures from Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, but more are shown here, along with images from Bagram, and the evidence of gross mistreatment, sometimes resulting in death, is even more shocking. Disgusting is an apt word.
What’s also anger-fueling is that any blame meted out is assigned to the lower echelons, while the brass and the administration honchos get a free pass. The situation also illustrates how those dealing with the prisoners are acting in the horrendous atmosphere created by the war and according to the impression from higher-ups that virtually anything goes in trying to humiliate prisoners or viciously interrogate them.
“Taxi to the Dark Side” piles on enough information and raises enough questions through its broad exploration of the facts and the issues to make it an important, must-see film, especially in this election year. Gibney has done our country a major service by exposing the dark side of policies that have shattered America’s honor before the world among those who care about human rights. A THINKFilm release.
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