Review: Taxi To The Dark Side
Let me start off b
y saying, Taxi to the Dark Side deserved its 2007 Oscar for best documentary feature. It also received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, putting it at the #3 all time spot. This film is stunning both in how it is produced and the information it reveals. It starts by covering a story with an Afghan taxi driver named Daliwar, who was beaten to death by Americans at Bagram Air Base, a site known to hold other possible insurgents. Daliwar was innocent, and severely brutal methods were used in his torture.
The film’s main theme is torture and interrogation, and the United States’ way of going about it. At times it can be disturbing to see what happened to these people at the hands of the US. Multiple methods used by the US were known to be in direct violation of the Geneva Convention. One notable method was waterboarding, where the victim is strapped down and water is poured into his or her mouth, making them feel as though they are drowning. Not only is this detrimental physically, but psychologically as well. Bush tried to justify these acts as well, finding loopholes where he could.
The film does an amazing job at revealing the information it has. Starting with Daliwar’s case, it moves further into US methods of torture and interrogation and the overall uselessness of torture itself. Great evidence is put fourth to prove torture is a useless method that usually ends up giving false information more than anything.
It is astounding, the information that producers were capable of getting. This film was the first ever to get pictures from within Bagram Air Base. These pictures show tons of prisoners’ brutal beating marks, torture gear, blood covered cells, and much more. The producers were capable of getting interviews with top people within the military, as well as many of those convicted of doing these beatings as well. These people were doing as they were told, and the bigger problem clearly lies within US government’s policies.
I liked this film for not only its massive amount of hard-to-get information, but the message it sends. Torture is not a useful tactic and should not be used. The United States government is using inhumane methods to get false and useless information. Something definitely needs to be done! This film deserves 9/10 for its consistently entertaining portrayal of its cause.
