Taxi to the Dark Side

With a title like Taxi to the Dark Side, you know it's not going to be a light-and-fluffy film, but it's a film that needed to be made, and should be seen by everyone. The measure of a nation is how well it lives up to its ideals in the worst of times. 9/11 was that trial for America, and America failed. If you do not believe that former U.S. president George W. Bush, former vice president Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, White House Council John Yoo, and at least a half dozen other members of the Bush Administration are guilty of war crimes, you must see this documentary. Even if you suspect they do, but have lingering doubts – you must see this documentary. And especially if you don't know either way, and know nothing about this issue – you must see this documentary. This is not some sort of Michael Moore propaganda piece. This transcends partisan politics. It deals with a broader issue. It focuses on the treatment of just one detainee and will probably make you sick to your stomach – if you can stomach it at all. And then reminds you that this happened not to just one guy, but to 83,000 others too. Hell yes, its difficult to watch - there is graphic photos of torture – but is that an excuse not to watch it? The fact is they are presented because showing them is necessary to fully understand the extent of what went on. And guess what? If you are an American, you damn well should sit through this, because you are guilty too – this is what your elected officials did. Of course when word finally got out, and they got blowback for it, in an outrageous act of cowardice, they left their own subordinates out to dry. The film makes the case, clearly, efficiently and thoroughly. Which makes it not only an excellent documentary, but an important one too.

Consciously depressing, draining and damning. A dizzying, disorienting tone befits indictments against vulgarly abused power, and Gibney avoids judging soldiers already punished in accordance with a system of blame shamefully traveling down, never up.

This horrifying documentary won the Oscar for 2007. Using the case of an innocent Afghan taxi driver who were tortured to death by American interrogators in Bagram prison as the starting point, the film chronicles the atrocities committed by the Bush administration in the name of American people and an ill-defined 'war on terror'. The film is written, directed and narrated by Alex Gibney, son of a high-ranking naval officer who was an interrogator in World War II. A great American and a true patriot, Frank Gibney's final disappointment of what became of the great nation of the United States in the hands of a few liars is heart-wrenching.

Yes, anything goes for heartless politicians. This documentary produces a mixture of anger and hope. It makes us angry to know how far governments can go, but hope remains intact when we see how certain people report abuses that happened (still happen) in some places. One even wonders if the army is a perfect school for psychopaths - the number of serial killers who went through the military before committing their crimes seems to back up this theory. I suggest watching 'Taxi to the Dark Side' to anyone interested in true, disturbing events. It will keep you reflecting on many things through an excellent narration.

Most tragically, in the end, it is always these poorest people who fall victim to politics. "Terrorists" or soldiers are just a piece of dust on the chessboard of interest groups.

The documentary starts by talking about the death of the Afghan taxi driver Dilwar. Later the focus is on the torture used by the American soldiers in Afghanistan. The brutal ways of getting their information from the suspects. The documentary also includes the abuse in Guantanamo Bay and the unwritten orders from the top. Overall a good documentary. It was a bit fast-paced but still got all the key parts.

I don't have the knowledge to question the authenticity of this documentary and I definitely disagree what the US government did around the world in the name of the so-called "liberation" and "anti-terrorism". But at least the making of this movie gives me a faith of hope, that this country is still one of the best, simply because the government would have no authority to stop people from making this sort of movies, to disclose the dark side of the government, to expose the hypocrisy of the military presence, to criticize the whole policy of anti-terrorism. The US government may not be perfect, but at least the people should have a faith of hope, and this is what make them proud.