Taxi to the Dark Side

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Taxi to the Dark Side
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alex Gibney
Produced by	Alex Gibney, Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman
Written by	Alex Gibney
Starring	Karyn Plonsky, Moazzam Begg, Willie Brand, Jack Cloonan, Damien M. Corsetti, Ken Davis, Carlotta Gall, Tim Golden, Tony Lagouranis, Carl Levin, Alfred W. McCoy, Gen. Dan McNeill, Alberto J. Mora, Anthony Morden, Glendale C. Walls, Lawrence Wilkerson, Tim Wilner, John Yoo
Music by	Ivor Guest, Robert Logan
Editing by	Sloane Klevin
Distributed by	THINKFilm
Release date(s)	April 30, 2007
Running time	106 min.
Language	English

Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney, and produced by Eva Orner and Susannah Shipman, which won the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.^[1]

The film focuses on the murder in custody of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar.^[2]

Dilawar was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Air Base.

Taxi to the Dark Side also goes on to examine America's policy on torture and interrogation in general, specifically the CIA's use of torture and their research into sensory deprivation. There is description of the opposition to the use of torture from its political and military opponents, as well as the defense of such methods; the attempts by Congress to uphold the standards of the Geneva Convention forbidding torture; and the popularization of the use of torture techniques in shows such as 24.

The film is part of the Why Democracy? series, which consists of ten documentary films from around the world questioning and examining contemporary democracy. As part of the series Taxi to the Dark Side was broadcast over 30 different countries around the world between the 8^th and 18^th of October 2007. The BBC cut their broadcast down to 79 minutes.

The film is said to be the first film to contain images taken within Bagram Air Base.

Contents 1 Release 2 Critical reception and awards 3 Controversies and legal disputes 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Release

On April 28, 2007, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.^[3]

In an interview with Beckey Bright of the Wall Street Journal Gibney was asked about the demoralizing effect his film might have on the American GIs:^[3]

Beckey Bright:	What impact do you think the film will have? Do you think the movie will be demoralizing for members of the military and their families?
Gibney:	I hope not to have an impact on morale. The military felt it had clear guidelines that were being fiddled with and undermined by civilian leadership. It's up to officers to instill guidelines and it's up to leadership to ensure guidelines are being followed.

[edit] Critical reception and awards

The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Premiere magazine named it the 5th best film of 2008^[4], and Bill White of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer named it the 7th best film of 2008.^[4] The film is also scored 100% for critic approval, out of 80 reviews, on Rotten Tomatoes, and is the third highest-rated film on the website's history. ^[5]

In November 2007, Taxi to the Dark Side was named by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as one of 15 films on its documentary feature Oscar shortlist.^[6][7] On February 24, 2008, in his acceptance speech for the "Best Documentary Feature" Academy Award, Alex 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. Let’s hope we can turn this country around, move away from the dark side and back to the light.[8]

”

[edit] Controversies and legal disputes

In June 2007, the Discovery Channel bought the rights to broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side. However, in February 2008, they made public their intention never to broadcast the documentary due to its controversial nature.^[9] 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.

On June 19, 2008, Alex Gibney's company filed for arbitration, arguing that THINKFilm failed to properly distribute and promote the film.^[10][11] He is suing for over a million dollars in damages. He stated that the film has only grossed $280,000.

[edit] See also

• Standard Operating Procedure (film)
• Torturing Democracy
• Jan Baz
• Firebase Salerno
• Moazzam Begg
• Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
• Extraordinary rendition by the United States
• KUBARK
• Torture and the United States
• List of documentaries
• Captain Christopher M. Beiring

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Film Web Site
• BBC News - Torture film wins Tribeca award 040507
• Crooks and Liars.com movie trailer
• Washington Post - Down a Dark Road by Richard Leiby 27/04/07
• Variety review by Jay Weissberg
• interview with Taxi to the Dark Side director Alex Gibney at Filmmaker Magazine
• Pullquote review
• The Why Democracy? homepage
• Taxi to the Dark Side at the Internet Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by An Inconvenient Truth	Academy Award for Documentary Feature 2007	Succeeded by Man on Wire

v • d • e Controversies surrounding persons captured during the 'War on Terror' Guantanamo Bay detention camp Suicides at Guantanamo, Qur'an desecration controversy, Boycott of Military Tribunals, Captives released who then joined insurgency Afghan prison abuse Bagram torture and prisoner abuse, Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandal Abu Ghraib prison Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse CIA Black sites Enhanced interrogation techniques, Ghost detainee, Waterboarding, Destruction of interrogation tapes Prison uprisings and escapes Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, Battle of Abu Ghraib, Sarposa Prison mass escape, Basra prison incident, Afghan escapes, Iraqi escapes Deaths in custody in Iraq Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Manadel al-Jamadi, Nagem Hatab, Baha Mousa, Fashad Mohamed, Muhammad Zaidan Deaths in custody in Afghanistan Dilawar, Jamal Nasser, Abdul Wahid, Habibullah, Jamal Nasser Forced disappearances who were never found Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi, Muhammed al-Darbi, Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman, Yassir al-Jazeeri, Adil al-Jazeeri, Tariq Mahmood, Hassan Ghul, Musaad Aruchi, Hiwa Abdul Rahman Rashul, Abdul Quddoos Khan Following legislation and investigations Ryder Report, Fay Report, Taguba Report, Church Report, Detainee Treatment Act Resulting media The Road to Guantanamo, Taxi to the Dark Side, Standard Operating Procedure, Torturing Democracy