Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

Just what I expected

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Fits the leftist agenda.Hollywood is leftist, that's why movies and TV shows are often leftist.

The movie begins relatively light by only focusing on mysteriously introducing about the focus victim's person, and then the ordeal he's been through. But then the movie expand and stretch the case to the bigger and relatively more grave matter of the subject. The movie takes the audience to the long detour in exchange of the enlightenment about the torture maltreatment and raising concerns about it. One thing great about this movie is that it didn't bother to shoot any actual reenactment since it already has strong materials in the archival photos, audio recordings and documents. Particularly the photos are indeed strongly harsh. Although they don't portray immediate violence, but they depict immediate stress and humiliation. The ending goes back very nicely to the smaller case just to show that it was such a wicked manipulation after all, all to uncover the serious mistake done by the government.

This disturbing documentary follows the case of Dilawar, an Afghani taxi driver, who is captured first by his countrymen and turned over to the United States military for interrogation. Dilawar would never leave alive. His death was declared a homicide on his death certificate. Dilawar was at the wrong place and wrong time during American paranoia and post September 11 world. Dilawar's death is investigated by journalists. Dilawar was beaten and tortured in humanely by American soldiers. First, this documentary is graphic with post Mortem pictures and pictures of naked detainees. The torture at Bangram and Abu Grahib is unforgivable. It does not end there but the detainees at Guantamano Bay have been isolated, sleep deprived, humiliated, and left to go mad or commit suicides as a result. The information from torture is often wrong, false, and unreliable. Water boarding is actually tame compared to the techniques used in this documentary. You must see it to believe it and understand. Torture is wrong on every level.

I often complain about the lopsidedness of documentaries. And more often than not, whenever I mention this, people pepper me with insults because they believe "that's what documentaries are designed to do." I beg to differ. Let me show you what I mean.There are some seriously stilted documentaries that look at one side (and ONLY one side) of an issue and never give credence to the other. How about an interview with someone who opposes the views that the documentarians are putting forth? How about some information that might refute what is being told? This one-sidedness is just too easy to find. Things like AFTER INNOCENCE, THE FUTURE OF FOOD, and RELIGULOUS are prime examples (there are tons more but I don't have the time nor inclination to mention them).Occasionally – if not extremely rarely – a documentary will come along that allows both sides to speak. And such is the case with the Academy Award winner TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE.The story starts and ends with the murder of Dilawar, a taxi cab driver in Afghanistan who is mistakenly picked up by U.S. forces and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for interrogation. Once there, he soon dies from injuries sustained at the hands of his captors. The middle of this documentary is the meat and potatoes of what went horribly wrong with the U.S.'s war on terror. It's a serious eye-opener. Not because it focuses on the problems the U.S. had with its detainees after 9/11, but because it allows everyone to speak about the successes and failures of torture. Yes, torture.From the men on the ground (staff sergeants and privates) to the President's advisory attorney at the U.S. Dept. of Justice (John Woo), we get to hear from just about everyone on the topic of the incarcerated detainees and their treatment at the hands of untrained and unprepared interrogators. It is astonishing, too, to learn that not a single person above the rank of sergeant was punished for the death of Dilawar (nor any other detainee who was abused). You mean to tell me that these grunts were responsible for ...everything? Give me a break! I don't delude myself any longer. The U.S. (either overtly or covertly) now uses "enhanced interrogation techniques" (e.g. torture). Make no doubt about it. We do it because we want to protect ourselves. But at what cost to our own moral compass? We claim to follow The Geneva Convention, but do we? Not as far as I can tell. And don't take my word for it. Watch ALL of the people in this documentary talk about this very subject and come to your own conclusions.