Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
Average Rating: 8.3/10
Reviews Counted: 91
Fresh: 91 | Rotten: 0
Taxi to the Dark Side is an intelligent, powerful look into the dark corners of the War on Terror.
Average Rating: 8.2/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 0
Taxi to the Dark Side is an intelligent, powerful look into the dark corners of the War on Terror.
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Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 5,913
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Movie Info
From the producer of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Who Killed the Electric Car? comes a documentary that takes a critical look at the Bush administration's policy on torture by investigating the death of an Afghan taxi driver who, after being taken into the custody of American soldiers at Bagram Air Force Base, suffered fatal injuries at the hands of U.S. soldiers. In 2002, American soldiers accused an Afghan taxi driver of taking part in a deadly rocket attack. Five days after being
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All Critics (91) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (94) | Rotten (0) | DVD (8)
Like the Iraq war documentary No End in Sight, this movie about the U.S. military's systematic torture of terror suspects is a triumph not of reporting but of synthesis.
Top CriticCertain to inspire both outrage and sorrow, Alex Gibney's harrowing documentary -- about the torture and abuse of suspected terrorists in U.S. military prisons -- ranks among recent cinema's more excoriating moral indictments.
Taxi to the Dark Side is a stunning indictment of torture as policy, a brilliant documentary whose arguments are so well-supported and reasonably made that you can't ignore them.
Along with No End in Sight, this movie is one of the essential documentaries of the ongoing war.
Taxi to the Dark Side joins a growing list of outspoken documentaries that question the rationale and conduct of America's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and our willingness to destroy freedom in order to save it.
The film certainly makes its case, tracing a chain of abuse from Bagram to the notorious Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, to the cells of Guantanamo.
Filmmaker Gibney, whose involvement with anti-establishment exposés could conceivably mark him for his own eventual rendition by the forces of freedom, carefully guides us up the chain of command to the policy level.
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.
A shocking expose about the American military's use of torture to get confessions--not always truthful ones--from prisoners suspected of terrorism. This is the kind of film that can make a difference!
[An] assiduously investigated, brilliantly argued documentary.
Nails the fact that murder, injuries, sexual abuse, humiliation and degradation of prisoners was covered up and condoned at the highest levels of the Bush Administration.
A comprehensive movie, an everything-you-wanted-to-know-but-were-afraid-to-ask film, engaging, paced well, informative, and professionally polished.
This is a deservedly acclaimed film; it's confronting and deeply saddening, but essential
Alex Gibney won best documentary Oscar for this gruelling, angry movie.
An unflinching documentary that exposes one of the darkest chapters in American history.
Gibney asks us to ponder the likelihood of getting good information from suspects turned in by bounty-hunting locals (more than 90% of those jailed for terrorist activity or connections to terrorists were fingered for a reward).
It's very powerful but disturbing stuff.
Yet another powerful indictment of actions connected to the war on terror.
A consistently strong piece of filmmaking with some breathtaking work by cinematographers Maryse Alberti and Greg Andracke.
Impossible to shake off.
Every voting adult concerned about the damages created by the Bush administration in the wake of 9/11 should watch it. So should those who steadfastly believe that no real or lasting damages have been made by that administration.
Released on DVD just in time for the presidential election, Taxi to the Dark Side should enrage even more people than it already has.
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An in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, focusing on an innocent taxi driver in Afghanistan who was tortured and killed in 2002.
REVIEW
Too few have heard of Dilawar. Those who have will probably never forget him. Alex Gibney certainly will not. His latest film starts and ends with this poor innocent taxi driver who, in 2002, was taken to the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. Five days later, he was dead. Dilawar's death was the spark which ultimately led to the international awareness of what the Bush administration was doing to its detainees in the war on terror. Gibney's film, however, decides to look up the tree, not down, to discover who was really responsible for these unpleasant developments. Gibney's film is bolstered by frank and interesting interviews with some of the troops on the ground. Their remorse is clear, as is their disgust. And disgust is the right word. This is, by no means, an easy watch. The use of the appalling footage which has been generated by the recent conflicts is necessary because, if anyone is in any doubt about how morally reprehensible these tactics are, this film will make it abundantly clear.
However, this film's real strength is the structure of its attack on the tactics that are employed. Gibney demonstrates that the tactics used are hopelessly inadequate and never yield effective information. There is a cutting and brilliant comparison with the old techniques and the new where an interviewee, a former FBI interrogator, uses his old tools of interrogation ? words ? and you can feel yourself being persuaded. This is not just a polemic. It is a human story and a powerful and well-constructed argument. It should be essential viewing as what has happened at Guantanamo, Bagram and Abu Ghraib should never be forgotten. This is excellent, important film-making.