A Review of Taxi to the Dark Side
Oscar Winning Documentary Thought Provoking and Scary
Directed by Alex Gibney, Taxi to the Dark Side begins with the story of an unfortunate Afghani taxi driver, Dilawar, who is murdered while being detained at the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Dilawar committed no crime, but was still summarily beaten by poorly trained US interrogators.
An Existential Journey
Dilawar is the starting point of Gibney’s existential journey, and he makes stops at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and Washington D.C. Gibney investigates why US soldiers torture and what methods and devices are used, going into the psychological effects of torture and how people, including former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney, made the decision to condone such behavior.
What makes this a great documentary is the way Gibney frames his argument, allowing his interviewees to tell their own stories, acting as the Bizarro Michael Moore. Gibney interviews many soldiers, including those directly involved in Dilawar’s death, and lawyers, plus researchers who were behind the methods the US uses. The people he interviews are important, thoughtful and mostly apolitical.
Noteworthy Interviews
However, two subjects stand out the most, John Yoo and Moazzam Begg. Yoo helped craft the torture policy and made the argument that enemy combatants had no protection under the Geneva Convention. Begg was held at Bagram and Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to 2005 without charges. Gibney juxtaposes the two well, allowing Yoo to explain his position without derision and Begg to state his experience without aggrandizement.
Gibney does a fantastic job of stemming his anger about the issue, choosing to act as a tour guide and not as bellicose objector, and showing the many different sides to the issue.
A Frightening Trip into the Soul
But it’s a frightening tour, a revelation of how monstrous acts are committed by human beings. There are no monsters in this film, only humans filled with fear. The men Gibney shows, especially the lower level interrogators, are no better or worse than the average American, but are still capable of murdering an innocent man and performing cruel acts all in the name of national security.
What truly horrifies is the justification of torture. Gibney shows how the lower level soldiers justified their action, by making the detainees less than human. But he also shows how easy it is for men like Cheney or Rumsfeld, who are thousands of miles away from Bagram or Abu Ghraib, to rationalize human suffering. Rumsfeld even makes a joke about one of the torture methods, wondering how difficult it is to stand for four hours.
It’s not an easy film to watch because of the many faces affected by this policy shown. But it is a film that is both necessary and oddly fulfilling.
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