Taxi to the Dark Side
Taxi to the Dark Side | |
---|---|
THINKFilm | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 106 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 American documentary film directed by
It was part of the Why Democracy? series, which consisted of ten documentary films from around the world questioning and examining contemporary democracy. As part of this series, the documentary was broadcast in over 30 countries from October 8–18, 2007. The BBC showed the film in its Storyville series.
Overview
Taxi to the Dark Side examines
Plot
The documentary concerns the death of Dilawar, an Afghan peanut farmer, who gave up farming to become a taxi driver and who died after several days of beating at Bagram detention center.
Dilawar left his home of
Dilawar was held at the prison at Bagram Air Base, and given the prisoner number BT421. Chained from the ceiling, he received multiple attacks on his thighs, a standard technique viewed as "permissible" and non-life-threatening. It is likely that the severe attack caused a blood clot which then killed him. His official death certificate created by the US military to pass to his family, with his body, was marked "homicide". Medical conclusion stated that Dilawar's legs were "pulpified" and, had he lived, would have required amputation.
The film explores the background of increasingly sanctioned torture following
Interviews include
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. Also that 105 detainees had died in captivity and that 37 of these deaths had been officially classified as homicides up to 2007.[3]
The film also looks at Guantánamo Bay and how the same techniques were implemented there.
Release
The film premiered at the
Reception
Taxi to the Dark Side appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.
Awards
The film was named by the
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.[10][11]
It also won a
Censorship allegations and legal disputes
In June 2007, the Discovery Channel bought the rights to broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side. However, in February 2008, it made public its intention never to broadcast the documentary due to its "controversial" nature and was accused of "censorship".[14] HBO then bought pay to view rights to the film[15] and broadcast it in September 2008,[16] after which the Discovery Channel announced it would broadcast Taxi to the Dark Side in 2009.[citation needed]
In June 2008, Gibney's company filed for arbitration, arguing that
See also
- Standard Operating Procedure (2008 film)
- Torturing Democracy (2008 film)
- Jan Baz
- Mohammed al-Qahtani – Guantanamo detainee discussed in the film
- Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
- Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse
- Extraordinary rendition by the United States
- Christopher Beiring
- Canadian Afghan detainee abuse scandal
- Bagram torture and prisoner abuse
- List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a film review aggregator website
References
- ^ 2008|Oscars.org
- ^ Eliza Griswold (May 2, 2007). "The other Guantánamo. Black Hole". The New Republic. Archived from the original on May 9, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Phillips, Richard (28 March 2008). "Taxi to the Dark Side: Murder of young Afghan driver exposes US torture policies". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^
Beckey Bright (April 28, 2007). "Director Explores 'Dark Side' Of U.S. Treatment of Detainees". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
- ^ a b "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 2, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
- ^ "Rotten Tomatoes review of Taxi to the Dark Side". Rotten Tomatoes. 2008-01-22. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
- ^ "Taxi to the Dark Side". Metacritic.
- ^ "80th Annual Academy Awards Nominees". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2008-01-22. Archived from the original on 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
- ^ "Shortlist for docu Oscar unveiled". The Hollywood Reporter. 2007-11-20. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ a b ""Taxi to the Dark Side": Exposé on US Abuses in "War on Terror" Wins Oscar for Best Documentary". Democracy Now. 26 February 2008. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
- ^ Taxi to the Dark Side Wins Documentary Feature: 2008 Oscars
- ^ 67th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2008.
- ^ Thielman, Sam; McNary, Dave (February 9, 2008). "Cody, Coens bros. top WGA Awards". Variety. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ Democracy Now! 12 Feb 2008 transcript, retrieved on 12 Feb 2008.
- ^ Schneider, Michael (21 February 2008). "HBO hails 'Taxi to the Dark Side'". Variety. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
- ^ "HBO hails 'Taxi to the Dark Side'". Dart centre for Journalism & Trauma. Dar. 29 September 2008. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
- ^ Christine Kearney (2008-06-26). "US documentary maker seeks damages over Oscar film". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-06-26. He sued for damages, claiming that the film has grossed only $250,000 up to June 2008 due to inadequate promotion.
- ^ Charles Lyons (June 26, 2008). "Filmmaker Says Distributor Failed Him". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
External links
- Washington Post - Down a Dark Road by Richard Leiby
- BBC News - Torture film wins Tribeca award
- Variety review by Jay Weissberg
- Interview with Taxi to the Dark Side director Alex Gibney at Filmmaker Magazine
- Pullquote review
- Taxi to the Dark Side at IMDb