"Taxi To The Dark Side" ****

February 19, 2008

This totally amazing and absorbing documentary made by famed director Alex Gibney (director of the 2006 Oscar nominated "Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room" and executive producer of last year's "No End In Sight" which is currently nominated for an AA) will fully explain the USA's involvement in the torture atrocities carried out at Afghanistan's Bagram Prison, Iraq's Abu Gharib Prison, and the current prison at Guantanamo. This unflinching document will put the final nail in the coffin of the Bush administration and, along with "No End In Sight", will no doubt have you pondering the depths to which this administration has fallen in their war on terror initiated after 9/11. You will be totally outraged and disgusted when you hear from those who were directly involved in the tortures (prison guards), higher-ups in the Bush administration, as well as State Department and FBI employees who pound away at procedures that were followed that not only go directly against the directives of the Geneva Convention, but also total human decency. When you hear that the U.S. torturers were "only following orders" you will have flash backs to incidents the world witnessed over 50 years ago in WWII. What is even more incredulous is that none of those who directed these atrocities were ever fully investigated-until now. What is even more amazing is that the facts that emerge in this work is not based on any left wing slant by the filmmaker. This is a topnotch investigative effort that expands on that which was initially reported in 2002 by New York Times reporter Carlotta Gall who uncovered a death certificate and autopsy report that stated that a U.S. detained Afghani taxi cab driver, named Dilawar, was murdered after being tortured to death while in U.S. captivity. Although it was never determined that he had any involvement in terrorist activities, the point is that the U.S. is shown to be culpable of performing deeds that we perceived as happening only in 3rd world countries. The coverups are too numerous to cite here and the blame has never escalated to the higher eschelons of the U.S. government where, after seeing this film, it is clear who should be burdening that blame! This should be seen by every American on the planet-especially before the November election!!