Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

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.

Director:

Alex Gibney

Writer:

Alex Gibney

Stars:

Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Alex Gibney	...	Narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Brian Keith Allen	...	Soldier - New York studio shoot reenactment
Moazzam Begg	...	Himself - Torture Victim (as Moazzam Beg)
Christopher Beiring	...	Himself - Captain
Willie Brand	...	Himself - Military Police
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jack Cafferty	...	Himself (archive footage)
Brian Cammack	...	Himself - Military Police
William Cassara	...	Himself - Attorney
Doug Cassel	...	Himself - Professor
Dick Cheney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jack Cloonan	...	Himself - Former FBI Agent
Damien Corsetti	...	Himself - Military Interrogator
Thomas Curtis	...	Himself - Sergeant: Military Police
Greg D'Agostino	...	Soldier - New York studio shoot reenactment

Storyline

Using the torture and death in 2002 of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone, this film examines changes after 9/11 in U.S. policy toward suspects in the war on terror. Soldiers, their attorneys, one released detainee, U.S. Attorney John Yoo, news footage and photos tell a story of abuse at Bagram Air Base, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay. From Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzalez came unwritten orders to use any means necessary. The CIA and soldiers with little training used sleep deprivation, sexual assault, stress positions, waterboarding, dogs and other terror tactics to seek information from detainees. Many speakers lament the loss of American ideals in pursuit of security.

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Plot Keywords:

detainee | afghanistan | guantanamo bay | torture | taxi | 

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Taglines:

In 2002, a young cab driver picked up a few passengers near his home in Afghanistan... He never returned.

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Genres:

Documentary | Crime | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing images, and content involving torture and graphic nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 2009 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Pros ti skoteini meria tis dimokratias

Filming Locations:

Yakubi, Afghanistan

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$13,656 (USA) (18 January 2008)

Gross:

$274,661 (USA) (30 May 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Discovery Channel, Jigsaw Productions, Tall Woods

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 53 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008)

User Reviews

The award-winning documentary you're not going to see

... at least not on Discovery Channel.

Said director Alex Gibney recently (on DemocracyNow): "Well, it turns out that the Discovery Channel isn't so interested in discovery. I mean, I heard that — I was told a little bit before my Academy Award nomination that they had no intention of airing the film..."

Discovery Channel has bought the exclusive TV rights for the next 3 years, but Gibney hopes they can be persuaded to sell them "for a profit".

And it is a powerful film. Although it reveals nothing new about the torture and degrading techniques we've become accustomed to over the last three years, it puts politician's faces and statements in context with a "real" victim and a name: young Afghan Taxi driver Dilawar, who was arrested at a checkpoint for alleged involvement in a rocket attack. Five days later he died at Bagram, after two days of continuous beatings, standing up in chains inside his solitary confinement cell. The American coroner checked "homicide" on his death certificate and handed it with the body to his family, who couldn't read English.

The film then takes us along the ride from Afghanistan to the present day. Dilawar was only the beginning, and one of two detainees who died from torture roughly at the same time. Today, about 180 people have died in custody, 38 with "homicide" on their death certificates. Dilawar's torturers tell their story. They took the rap, they repent, but is this justice? What's the bigger picture, the one that's usually glossed over, and the reason Discovery deems this documentary "controversial"?

Alex Gibney dismantles "Torture the American way" just like he did the Enron scandal in "Enron: The smartest guys in the room", from the inside to the bigger inside, like a Russian doll. You will hear the words "war crimes", see the infamous torture memo, Abu Ghraib photos and film, Kiefer Sutherland torturing with electric wires, Guantanamo, Cheney, Rumsfield, Bush and their lawyers wriggling around the t-word and egging on that "we must take our gloves off". "We have to work the dark side, if you will. We're going to spend time in the shadows", says Cheney.

"But... is the dark side stronger?"

"No. Quicker, easier, more seductive. Anger, fear, aggression, the dark side are they.

"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."