TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE |
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Taxi to the Dark Side, an Academy Award winning documentary by director Alex Gibney, traces the story of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver who died in U.S. custody at the Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, and examines the U.S. government's illegal interrogation and detention policies and practices in the "war on terror."
Taxi to the Dark Side has debuted on HBO and is now available on DVD. Amnesty International has created a Taxi to the Dark Side House Party Guide, so that you can use the film to educate others and inspire them to take action to end abuses by the U.S. government in the "war on terror." You can screen the film for free in your home, dorm or classroom (as long as no fee is charged to view the film), but if you plan to hold a larger screening, please contact us for rights clearance: ctwj@aiusa.org.
» Download the Taxi to the Dark Side House Party Guide (PDF)
See the Trailer
About the Film
Winner of the 2008 Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature and a 2008 Peabody Award, Taxi to the Dark Side takes a disturbing, in-depth look at the highly questionable and often illegal interrogation practices used by the U.S. government at detention facilities in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo Bay in the years following 9/11. Beginning with the story of an innocent young Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar, who was killed in 2002 while being held at the Bagram Air Base prison in Afghanistan, Taxi to the Dark Side tells the grim, cautionary saga of how the U.S. government, desperate to draw out information from a top Al Qaeda leader detained in Guantánamo Bay, approved the use of torture and other cruel and unusual interrogation techniques. These tactics were systematically exported to other overseas U.S. prisons — some known, some secret. In examining the interrogation practices used in Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay, the film features shocking photos, archival footage, expert commentary, and interviews with several soldiers stationed at military prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq. These guards admit to using abusive techniques—including isolation, ceiling handcuffing, sleep deprivation, strip humiliation, threats by menacing dogs, sexual abuse and more—that they say were condoned and even approved by their superiors, despite being in clear violation of the humanitarian rules outlined in the Geneva Conventions and in U.S. military guidelines. They also admit to the use of “waterboarding,” a form of torture that is illegal under U.S. and international law.
The title of Taxi to the Dark Side refers first to an Afghan cabbie named Dilawar, who was apprehended by U.S. soldiers in 2002 and detained in the Bagram Air Base prison, where he died of wounds to the lower extremities after four days. Second, it evokes a statement Vice President Dick Cheney made to Tim Russert a few days after the 9/11 attacks. "We also have to work the dark side, if you will," said Cheney of the U.S. strategy to bring terrorists to justice. "We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world."
Taxi to the Dark Side examines the spread of abuse in U.S. prisons abroad, featuring the case of Mohammad al-Qahtani, a suspected "20th hijacker" of 9/11, who was subjected to new, humiliating interrogation tactics in an attempt to get him to reveal information in Guantánamo Bay. With the apparent approval of Secretary of State Rumsfeld, these tactics were exported to Afghanistan and Iraq, where guards subjected detainees to increasingly sadistic acts. As the film shows, after the now-famous Abu Ghraib prison photos were published in 2004, many soldiers were brought to trial, discharged and/or imprisoned--but the damage had already been done. No senior administration official has been held responsible for the abuses perpetrated against detainees in the name of fighting terrorism.
Warning: Taxi to the Dark Side was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for disturbing images, and content involving torture and graphic nudity. Children under 17 are not allowed to attend R-rated motion pictures unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian. Parents are strongly urged to find out more about R-rated motion pictures in determining their suitability for their children. Generally, it is not appropriate for parents to bring their young children with them to R-rated motion pictures.
