Oscar-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. Dilawar was held at the prison at Bagram Air Base, and given the prisoner number BT421. Taxi to the Dark Side examines US policy on torture and interrogation, specifically the CIA's use of torture and their research into sensory deprivation. It focuses on the December 2002 killing of an Afghan taxi … Taxi to the Dark Side doesn't contain anything wholly new, just more complete detail and important clarifications, such as the fact that Guantanamo uses very much the same basic methods to Abu Ghraib, though the location is cleaner and of course was not formerly used by Saddam Hussein. Producers : Alex Gibney, Blair Foster, Don Edkins, Don Glascoff, Eva Orner. Taxi to the Dark Side is a masterfully put-together documentary with fantastic structure and clarity; It starts off focused and intimate, but as it progresses the scope broadens and by the end of it you basically fall out of your chair in disbelief—the air knocked out of you—trying to figure out how something of this magnitude could've ever happened. Directed by Alex Gibney. Breaking down the prisoner, not obtaining reliable information, or any information, for that matter.Hence the widely spread US policies are not only harmful, dangerous, immoral, and illegal, but stupid and, in intelligence-gathering terms, worthless.The "extraordinary rendition," waterboarding, sensory deprivation, etc. It focuses on Dilawar, a 22-year-old farmer and taxi driver living in the small village of Yakubi in Afghanistan, who was wrongly … One month free trial! The photos of Americans mistreating Muslim prisoners at Abu Ghraib are good recruiting material for anti-US terrorists. "Taxi to the Dark Side" is a highly insightful documentary that starts with the relatively simple incident of an Afghan taxi driver dying in custody at Bagram Army Base on December 5, 2002. A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him. Many speakers lament the loss of American ideals in pursuit of security. It was part of the Why Democracy? The film also shows "tours" of Guantanamo and deflates the claims of the tour guides.One reason for all this is who's been in charge: a group of draft dodgers who never served in a war. series, which consisted of ten documentary films from around the world questioning and examining contemporary democracy. Varieties of Orwellian terminology have been devised to describe these prisoners. Title: At: Kendall Square . It's not an easy film to sit through but it's worth watching and … Directed by Alex Gibney. With Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg, Christopher Beiring. Based on the events of the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin's regime as seen by his personal physician during the 1970s. NARRATOR: On December 5, 2002, Dilawar, a young Afghan taxi driver, was brought to Bagram. He did not live long once his ill-trained but plainly-directed captors got hold of him, but his final hours were terrifying and horrible. "Well," says O'Hehir, "it worked on me." Taxi to the Dark Side is an in-depth look at the United States’ use of torture in the War on Terror that won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary. [10] In his acceptance speech for the "Best Documentary Feature" Academy Award, Gibney said: This is dedicated to two people who are no longer with us, Dilawar, the young Afghan taxi driver, and my father, a navy interrogator who urged me to make this film because of his fury about what was being done to the rule of law. Taxi to the Dark Side is as shocking and disturbing as its title. R. Documentary. He never returned.. An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002 Taxi to the Dark Side Synopsis: Using the torture and death in 2002 of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone, this film examines changes after 9/11 in U.S. policy toward suspects in the war on terror. Alex Gibney's horrifying documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side" uses the death of Dilawar as an entry point into a remorseless indictment of the Bush administration's unofficially condoned policy of the torture of suspects, which is forbidden by U.S. constitutional and military law and international agreements, but justified under the "necessity" of working the dark side. Anthony Morden. A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife's murder, big business, and corporate corruption. Which of the following war documentaries best uses actual archive footage? Dilawar left his home of Yakubi in eastern Afghanistan in the autumn of 2002, investing his family money in a new taxi to make money in a larger city. But the US has not been holding real enemies. Taxi to the Dark Side Alex Gibney Brian Keith Allen Jack Cloonan (2008) Filmmaker Alex Gibney examines the beating death of an Afghan cabdriver at an Air Force base. Taxi to the Dark Side is as shocking and disturbing as its title. The taxis in Massawa are often large like minibusses, but are still taxis. Actors : Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg, Christopher Beiring, Willie Brand. Its subject matter is torture as a weapon of choice in the war against terror. Directors. It is likely that the severe attack caused a blood clot which then killed him. Use the HTML below. Writer and directed by: Alex Gibney . The mere intention to conduct these actions reveals a complicated double standard (Fiala, 103). In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Alex Gibney, and produced by him, Eva Orner, and Susannah Shipman. If it were, the useless prisoners or wrongly captured would be filtered out, as Dilawar ought to have been. And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids? An example: the popular jingoistic TV program "24," starring Kiefer Sutherland as a CIA agent who "saves" millions by torturing mad terrorists with ticking bombs in Times Square. . Military interviewees include Damien Corsetti the main interrogator, and Sgt. There are pictures and videos from Abu Ghraib. The site's consensus reads: "Taxi to the Dark Side is an intelligent, powerful look into the dark corners of the War on Terror". Its subject matter is torture as a weapon of choice in the war against terror. don't work in practical terms, but they have a political purpose. [10][11], It also won a Peabody Award in 2007 "for its sober, meticulous argument that what happened to a hapless Afghani was not an aberration but, rather, the inevitable result of a consciously approved, widespread policy. Written by Brutality, degradation, inhumane treatment, cruelty, these are the words that are often ascribed to the act of torture, whatever form it maybe. Another authority, a former CIA operative, asserts that the best method to obtain information is to gain the confidence of the prisoner and convince him you can help him.But post 9/11 "high value" prisoners were clearly tortured with anything their captors could think of--and then confessed to anything they could think of. Taxi to the Dark Side es un documental estadounidense de 2007 dirigido por Alex Gibney y producido por Eva Orner y Susannah Shipman, que ganó el Premio de la Academia de 2007 como mejor documental largo. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. And now the US authorities are in a bad position. In June 2007, the Discovery Channel bought the rights to broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side. After the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted. [5] The film also scored 100% for critic approval, out of 93 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, with a weighted average of 8.34/10. In June 2008, Gibney's company filed for arbitration, arguing that THINKFilm failed to properly distribute and promote the film following its release and Oscar win. 1 hr 46 min. Taxi to the Dark Side. This documentary murder mystery examines the death of an Afghan taxi driver at Bagram Air Base from injuries inflicted by U.S. soldiers. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Taxi to the Dark Side . Who Are the DeBolts? The film clarifies that psychological experiments by Donald Hobb at McGill University in the Seventies proved sensory deprivation is the most effective means of torture; at least according to Hobb it can induce psychosis within 48 hours. The film also looks at Guantánamo Bay and how the same techniques were implemented there. Stunningly crafted, TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE delves into the dirty underworld of torture as an interrogation technique in the U.S. War on Terror. It focuses on the December 2002 killing of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar, who was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention and interrogated at a black site at Bagram air base. Directed by Alex Gibney. Take a look ahead at some of our most anticipated superhero series arriving in 2021 and beyond. His official death certificate created by the US military to pass to his family, with his body, was marked "homicide". The film was named by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as one of 15 films on its documentary feature Oscar shortlist in November 2007,[8][9] and won the Oscar on February 24, 2008. The Language : … Scott. A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century". … If you are unsure how best to edit this programme please take a moment to read it. Taxi to the Dark Side subtitles. Daliwar was arrested shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan on suspicion of helping plan a mortar attack on American forces. (127)IMDb 7.41 h 46 min2007R. Will ‘My Octopus Teacher’ be this year’s feel-good Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature? [15][16], Controversies surrounding people captured during the, Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, Extraordinary rendition by the United States, List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "Taxi to the Dark Side: Murder of young Afghan driver exposes US torture policies", "Director Explores 'Dark Side' Of U.S. Taxi to the Dark Side is part of a growing list of important documentaries—Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) and the Road to Guantánamo (2006), to name two—that could be … Let's hope we can turn this country around, move away from the dark side and back to the light. Medical conclusion stated that Dilawar's legs were "pulpified" and, had he lived, would have required amputation. (2007). Taxi To The Dark Side documents the Bush administration’s sanctioning of torture against suspects, despite being forbidden US constitutional, military and international law, charting the path to Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. He was innocent. [14] HBO then bought rights to the film and announced that it would be broadcast in September 2008, after which the Discovery Channel announced it would broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side in 2009. Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district. Synopsis. Chained from the ceiling, he received multiple attacks on his thighs, a standard technique viewed as "permissible" and non-life-threatening. The BBC showed the film in its Storyville series. The taxi system is highly decentralized, with the cab generally belonging to the driver and operated as a private business by him. Many speakers lament the loss of American ideals in pursuit of security. "[12] Additionally, Gibney received the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay at the 60th Writers Guild of America Awards.[13]. Thomas Curtis, Mil-Pol, Bagram] When the sun started to go down, the sand started blowing. From Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzalez came unwritten orders to use any means necessary. With Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg, Christopher Beiring. It was like a big dust bowl. But torture also simply doesn't work, accomplishes nothing useful. R. Documentary. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 28, 2007. As part of this series, the documentary was broadcast in over 30 countries from October 8–18, 2007. The documentary claims that of the over 83,000 people incarcerated by US forces in Afghanistan up to 2007, 93 percent were captured by local militiamen and exchanged for US bounty payments. Much time is given to Alfred McCoy, author of a book called 'The Question of Torture' and a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin. Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Alex Gibney, and produced by him, Eva Orner, and Susannah Shipman. They convince people that the US is "getting tough" on its enemies. This is more effective than pain. The film explores the background of increasingly sanctioned torture following 9/11 in contravention of the Geneva Convention and looks at the exposure of Abu Ghraib. Get unlimited DVD Movies & TV Shows delivered to your door with no late fees, ever. They may also have been variously unwise. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature . Interviews include Tim Golden of The New York Times who brought the case into the international spotlight, and Moazzam Begg, a British citizen imprisoned at the same time, and witness to the events.