Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

Alex Gibney exposes the haunting details of the USA's torture and interrogation practices during the War in Afghanistan.

Director:

Alex Gibney

Writer:

Alex Gibney

Stars:

Alex Gibney, Brian Keith Allen, Moazzam Begg

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

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

afghanistan | waterboarding | rocket attack | screaming | maiming | 

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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 | History | News | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Quotes

Himself - Military Intelligence: Americans obviously want to believe that we're somehow more moral than the rest of the world, that for some reason, we have a real strong desire to feel that way, and I think that's eroding, and I don't really know what effect that's gonna have on us. And I think a lot of people have just decided, "Well, you know, it's different after 9/11, we can't be good anymore. We have to, you know, get tough." And so we'll have to see what that does to us.
Narrator: What do you think?
Himself - Military Intelligence: I think that's bullshit, frankly...

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Connections

Featured in 50 Documentaries to See Before You Die: Episode 2 (2011)

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Soundtracks

In My Little Corner of the World
Words by Bob Hilliard Music by Lee Pockriss
Published by Better Half Music (Division of Bourne Co.)
and Emily Music Corporation
Performed by Yo La Tengo
Courtesy of Matador Records

User Reviews

Pointing out serious problems does not make this film Anti-American

There is something you need to know about this film: it is not about real insurgents or terrorists or about real soldiers, and it is certainly not an anti-American film.

It is about how senior military and civilian officials demand results from their subordinates, even if the results are to be obtained by unconscionable, immoral, and illegal means, up to, and including, torture and murder. The fact that many of these results - what the military like to call "the mission" - are faked or just wrong is of no particular concern to them. Naturally, you'll never find a document signed by any of those officials advocating torture and murder. The most you'll ever find is a reference to "enhanced interrogation techniques" (i.e., torture). And if a detainee dies, the senior officers and officials always benefit from "plausible deniability" and claim that it must be the fault of junior "bad apple" troops. If terrorists are murderers, some of our own troops have certainly engaged in murder, too. To reveal this is not anti-American; it's just a simple fact. Because the troops often do it in a group they think they're not murderers. Just as, I imagine, someone who participates in gang rape does not consider himself, individually, to be a rapist.

While most Military Police (MP) troops are fighting hard on the ground every day in Iraq and Afghanistan, one group of troops which this film examines are those Military Police who are used as prison guards. The other troops examined in the film are some military intelligence ("MI") troops employed as interrogators in prison camps.

If you don't know already, Military Police are usually despised by their own troops. If you give a soldier special power over his fellow soldiers he will often abuse it. I still recall an Australian friend of mine mentioning that many of the Aussie "Red Hats" (MPs) who sailed for home after WWII never made it back; their fellow troops threw them overboard.

The old saw about military intelligence being a contradiction in terms is never more apparent than in the case of interrogators. When you hear the word intelligence here you must forget all about spies, codes, and the stuff of James Bond novels. The interrogators of MI are an example of soldiers who are ill prepared, in general, to carry out work that would normally take years to master. They are mostly low-ranking enlisted men and women, privates and sergeants, almost none of whom speak with any proficiency the language of the detainees they're interrogating.

So, imagine the scenario: senior officials demanding intelligence, no matter how it's obtained; unqualified interrogators using whatever means they can think of to satisfy their superiors' demands; and MP prison guards who have the power of life and death over their detainees, with almost no restrictions on what they can do to them. Behind all this is the unwritten understanding that if something goes wrong, the troops will probably not be prosecuted. God help the innocent person swept up into this sadistic, bureaucratic system. But as we all know, if you've been arrested, you must be guilty. Right?

The elephant in the closet in all this is the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that regards itself as above law, morality, and civilized behavior. It gets away with much of what it does by having the military, foreigners, and contractors to do its dirty work for it. And when somebody has to take a fall, well, that's what privates and sergeants are for. If your kids are MPs, interrogators, or just in the military, advise them always to watch their backs around those people.

This may be a disturbing film for civilians, but it won't include many surprises if you've served in the armed forces, or on a police force, or in a prison. Those are the people who know about this, but they're not about to tell you. No wander the USA has pulled out of the War Crimes Treaty. But what officials do not want to admit, even to themselves, is that war crimes are war crimes, no matter if you're a treaty signatory or not.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 2009 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Taxi to the Dark Side

Filming Locations:

Yakubi, Afghanistan

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,930, 20 January 2008

Gross USA:

$274,661

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$294,309

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