Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Sadly Over-hyped

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I always make an effort to try and watch all films that win big during Awards Season in most years, when it comes to documentaries I am perhaps not as up to date, nevertheless, I am glad I took the time to watch this one. Basically in December 2002, an Afghan peanut farmer named Dilawar, who gave up farming to become a taxi driver, he and three passengers were arrested by US military officials, accused of organising an attack on Camp Salerno. Dilawar, an innocent man, was held in extrajudicial detention and interrogated at the Parwan Detention Facility at Bagram Air Base. He spent several days being tortured and beaten by US military prison guards, including multiple attacks on his thighs, a standard technique viewed as "permissible" and non-life-threatening. Following these severe attacks, Dilawar died in prison, most likely caused by a blood clot due to his injuries, his official death certificate passed, with his body, to his family was marked "homicide". The film explores the background of increasingly sanctioned "torture" since the 9/11 attacks, questioning and examining contemporary democracy, and the methods of the US military to interrogate suspect terrorists. It turns out that the guards, soldiers and other staff members of these prisons have disgusting motives, there have been reported and photographed incidents of prisoners being severely beaten and humiliated, stripped naked, forced to masturbate, deliberately scared, including with loud noises, such as vicious dogs barking, and much more unbelievable things. It is also shocking that when these incidents have been reported to the authorities, and go as far as reaching government officials, including the President of the United States (then George W. Bush), they are dismissed as procedures sanctioned by both the White House and the Pentagon, so no justice was done for a significant amount of time. The conclusion of this film is that the murder of Dilawar was exposed by the New York Times, those who murdered him were prosecuted, the body was taken back to Afghanistan, and more strict rules on interrogation are being employed. When you watch this film, you are absolutely appalled by the lack of decency shown by the prison staff, many even posing for photographs during their gross actions, it really does show the horrors of the "war on terror", with interviews from detainees, politicians and soldiers who have experienced these incidents for themselves, a powerful and provocative documentary. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Good!

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.

look i know it sounds callous, but look on the bright side of this. at least someone made a major important expose of these war crimes and whats more the film received a lot of attention including an Academy Award (so next time you turn your noses up at the Oscars in favor of the Discovery channel...).this whole thing is an amazing testament to the good and evil in the human race. people do some really evil, low down rotten sh-t. but isn't it funny how often they get caught or exposed? i'm not saying an expose makes up for a multitude of sins (best not to have committed them at all), but at least there are still decent people left in the world to bust wrong doing and bring it to justice.i know there is so much darkness in the world, and i don't know if it will ever end, but as long as there are people that want true humanity and justice for all persons there is hope. so,cheer up. try to be happy. and try to look toward the bright side. it's there.

Because this is a documentary, I have to go about writing this review differently. First I will write about how it's constructed and the information it provides, then I will write my own personal response to the film.Alex Gibney's "Taxi to the Dark Side" is a tell-all about how the U.S. government's position on torture really operates. There is no doubt that this is a controversial subject, but it is essential viewing.Credit has to go to Gibney for not trying to make an attack on the Bush Administration and its practices. Unlike Michael Moore, he lets the information speak for itself. If there is something that deflects blame from someone that we previously thought should be held accountable, he still uses it. On the flip side, he lets no one who is guilty of something get away with it.The information comes fast and furiously, but it is clearly illustrated. Voiceovers, images, and interviews are used to great effect. "Taxi to the Dark Side" is a tad long, but Gibney has a lot to say.Now for my thoughts..."You put people in a crazy situation and people do crazy things."--one of the former interrogators interviewed.Indeed, the times we live in are "crazy," especially for the armed forces fighting overseas. It seemed that after 9/11 everything changed. The terrorist attacks on that day shocked the world, and the American people wanted justice. As an American, I can't blame them.But the question I ask is, at what cost do we want justice? If we don't uphold the values that we are governed by, then what are we protecting? What's the point of fighting if we can't live the way we want to, and the way that millions have given their lives for us to be able to live like in the past? After viewing the film, it seems to me that this stemmed from us wanting quick justice even though it couldn't be obtained. The pressure to do so caused us to act irrationally, and this is the result. Everyone knows that torture doesn't work, as victims are more likely to say what their abusers want to hear than that we simply don't know. But we bypass all the laws to get answers to prove that we're doing something.Yet this answer seems like incomplete reasoning. If this is the case, than why would John Yoo, who authored memos that exploited loopholes to give Bush and his cabinet expansive powers on this issue, and to give us leverage to disregard the Geneva Convention, which is supposed to protect people from these kinds of interrogation. Just because they may not be protected by the Geneva Convention, does that mean that we can torture them? Do they not have the same rights as someone who is? While we can blame people like Lyndie England, who committed the torture, Gibney says while their actions were reprehensible, and they did take their actions too far (and I think they should have been punished), he also portrays them as scapegoats. The soldiers had no real training, and were given vague, at best, guidelines at how to interrogate them.Furthermore, Gibney proves how important our right to a trial is. A shocking number of terrorists are kept in detention and tortured because they were handed over to the US by the Pakistanis and Iraqi army. But they were put in detention without a trial, and most with no evidence (and sometimes they were given a huge bounty in exchange). So how can we really know that these people are actually insurgents? Some are, but how many? Even if you're liberal or a conservative, this is a must see.