"Taxi to the Dark Side" Shocks and Enlightens

Alex Gibney's 2007 documentary film "Taxi to the Dark Side" provides a darkly illuminating glimpse into the heart of the most notorious U.S. controlled prisons in this new century.

The film, which Gibney directed, wrote, narrated, and produced, won the 2008 Oscar for Best Documentary. At its core is the story of an Afghani taxi driver known as Dilawar, who in 2002 was killed as the result of torture he suffered at the hands of American soldiers in Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base. 

Through Dilawar's story, "Taxi to the Dark Side" explores the torture used on suspected terrorists in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay detention center, as well as taking a close look at what happened in Bagram itself. Utilizing a combination of archived footage of past interviews, dramatizations of the film's events, and interviews with U.S. soldiers who worked in the prisons as well as with a former Bagram detainee, the film works to provide a convincing and heartstopping portrayal of the atrocities that were committed under U.S. orders. 

The film asks the hard questions: "Why is torture being utilized, despite the restricting guidelines of the Geneva Conventions?," "Who is responsible for the orders to torture?," and, more subtly, but very importantly, "How can these soldiers, seemingly normal people, be responsible for such cruelty?" And it answers them all, providing solid evidence throughout.

One such scene that highlights this concrete evidence is a snippet from an archived interview the late Tim Russert conducted with former vice president Dick Cheney, which also provides part of the film's title. Conducted only days after the September 11th attacks, the clip sends chills down the spine in capturing Cheney declaring "we also have to work the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world." 

This leads one to question just how far the U.S. should go in order to protect itself from would-be terrorists, and thoughts about how long one can be immersed in these dehumanizing procedures before being corrupted by them. Indeed, several former guards and interrogators speak of how some were driven to "go beyond the pale," in interrogations, and how while in the prison system "you lose your moral bearings" and are "morally isolated" from society. 

All that matters while in these detention centers is getting information out of the detainees in the easiest way possible. In this, the film is similar to Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 "Apocalypse Now," which provides a perfect example of the ideal soldier, Walter Kurtz, and his slow descent into madness after considerable exposure to the horrors of war and the utter primality of human nature. These soldiers have experienced a lighter version of the degradations committed in Cambodia, and the photographs of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib bear a grotesque similarity to Kurtz's compound in the jungle. 

The lighting and soundtrack of "Taxi" work similarly to that of Coppola's film, though not to nearly as dramatic an effect. Both accentuate the serious and somber mood that pervades the film due to the shocking nature of the footage and interview accounts, especially in several reenactments of torture and prisoner abuse. To be an informed citizen in today's world, anddue to its excellent quality,"Taxi to the Dark Side" is a must-see.