Learning More About Guantanamo At the Movies

English film director Michael Winterbottom and the three subjects of his most recent film, The Road to Guantanamo, were on hand last night for a post-screening discussion about conditions inside the Cuban base sponsored by the ACLU. Hosted by the IFC Center as a part of their ongoing Q&A series, the panel led by ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero brought home the responsibility of all people who care about human rights to speak out against the conditions and unlawful status of Guantanamo.

Winterbottom's film dramatizes the experience of three young British men, known as "the Tipton Three" named for the part of England they call home, who on a wedding trip to Pakistan in 2001 end up in Afghanistan and subsequently rounded up by US forces to be sent to Guantanamo. At the camp, they're held for two years without any formal charges being brought against them and subjected to sleep deprivation, noise torture and host of other deplorable treatments in order to force a confession that they are affiliated with Al Qaeda. Winterbottom inter-cuts recreated footage with actors and documentary-style story telling from the real Tipton three for a powerful and important film experience.

When R.E.M. lead singer and audience member, Michael Stipe stood up to the microphone to apologize on behalf of all Americans for Ruhel Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul's treatment, it was a surprisingly moving moment. Even on a projected iChat AV hook up from the UK, Ahmed, Iqbal and Rasul were very charming and animated. It was easy to see why Winterbottom thought they would communicate well on screen. They talked about how touched they were by the standing ovation for them at the Berlin Film Festival, where the film won the Silver Bear, and the importance of seeing their story told to as wide an audience as possible.

The film begins its limited theatrical release today screening at the Angelika downtown and Lincoln Plaza on the Upper West Side. It's a must see for anyone who likes engaging storytelling, and cares about American policy and human rights.

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By Karen Wilson in Arts and Events on June 23, 2006 4:20 PM

Comments [rss]

Lancer

It's a rens. But that's cool!

S.D.

T., I'm not blindly opposing it: I just don't trust it.

I'm a big believer of oversight, open Gov't and Even more so of the Constitution. IMO, the founding fathers had the right idea in NOT trusting Gov't.

This Administration is one of the Most closed administrations we've ever had. Even with it's own party in power, they reject any oversight.

Are people being tortured in Guantanamo? I don't know but it would not surprise me. I do know that people are being imprisoned without any Due process and without Legal Representation.

Remember José Padilla? He's an American Citizen. He could be Guilty as Sin, but his right to Due Process (To begin with) was denied just on the Presidents say so. He was imprisoned on May 8, 2002 and finally indicted on November 22, 2005 over 3 years later.

The indictment didn't even list any of the original allegations. Doesn't that worry you, even a little? If they could do that to an American Citizen, it's no stretch for me to believe they'd do worse to Non Citizens.

T.

Blindly opposing the government is no better than blindly following it.

S.D.

Yes S.D., because we all know that if 3 people are wrongly imprisoned, that means that they were not only tortured but that EVERYONE IN THE PRISON is also innocent and tortured.

(sigh)

We're talking about these three, but Did you just stipulate that these three were wrongly imprisoned?

Interesting!

Let me ask you:
<ul><li>Do you Just take the Gov't's Word that no torture is Happening?</li><li>Do you believe in Oversight?</li><li>Do you believe in indefinite imprisonment without Due Process/Trial/Legal Representation?</li><li>Why do you think those 3 people committed Suicide? Boredom?</li><li>Do you think "Water Boarding" and "Mock Burials" Aren't Torture?</li><li>Why do you think the Congress passed a Law explicitly Banning Torture?</li></ul>As for those 14 men: What? You mean After we held them as "Guests" they took up arms against the US?! Those Sneaky Bastards! Wow, I can't imagine what Inspired them...

T., You want to go on a rant about the people who support the Movie, Have at it. Me, I've never blindly trusted Gov't and since 2001, I have even less of a reason to do so.

IMO: what's going on at Guantanamo is Un-American.

T.

Yes S.D., because we all know that if 3 people are wrongly imprisoned, that means that they were not only tortured but that EVERYONE IN THE PRISON is also innocent and tortured. Does that mean if I can find 3 innocent people that were released in any prison in this country, that prison should be shut down and everyone released?

And do we release terrorists for not having enough proof sometimes? Yes. So far, US intelligence tracked 14 men released from Gitmo who returned to the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan. One is believed to have joined the terrorist group Hezbollah. The Pentagon has estimated there may be as many as 100 who have returned to their lives as terrorists and militants in the Middle East. So yeah, just because someone's released doesn't always mean they're innocent. Ask OJ.

S.D.

Yes T., That's Why the US and British let them go Because the US Let's Terrorists go free.

Give me a break. After two years, if they actually did anything, they'd still be there.

T.

The movie has no actual footage except for dramatic reenactments cast and shot by Winterbottom and we see the 3 men in question complaining about their treatment. All the dramatizations revolve around the unsworn testimony of the 3 men claiming they were tortured. Really credible stuff there. Winterbottom never even hints that they may be embellishing their stories, I guess because only Americans lie. Winterbottom relies on these 3 mens "unbiased" testimony and United Nations recommendations to come to the conclusion that EVERYONE there is tortured and Gitmo should be closed down. Never mind that the United Nations NEVER ACTUALLY VISITED Gitmo when making that statement.

These men left their lives in the West, claiming they went into Afghanistan (illegally I may add) to arrange a marriage and just happened to be caught on a battlefield close enough to be captured to the action to be captured? Give me a break. How can the US NOT investigate three men on a battlefield who entered the country illegally? Maybe they were tortured, maybe they weren't, but it's crazy to act like it's an airtight case. It's just the word of the people claiming to be tortured, the UN that's never been to Guantanamo. I could do a documentary on prisons using nothing but the words of prisoners themselves and I can guarantee you that I'd find out they were all innocent and mistreated.

And the murdered American soldiers are important because they point out the hypocrisy of it all. You would never see stars and progressives critiquing the beheaders of soldiers or making documentaries on behalf of them the way they do for Muslims. I always see them demanding for Americans to speak out on behalf of innocent Muslims, but you never see them demanding the moderate Muslims to speak out against THEIR extremists.

These movies and public events are just self-serving excuses for progressives to show their "tolerance" and "enlightenment."

pugsley

don't recall stipe, winterbottom or the aclu raising a peep about the cuban librarians or anyone that's locked up in cuba for speech & thought crimes. some coots can't let go of the radical chic schtick.

S.D.

"When do you think the two kidnapped and murdered soldiers will get a high-profile documentary with a star-studded screening. Oh wait, that's right, never."

The implication being that no one cares about American Soldiers dying in Iraq, which is absolutely not true.

T., out of curiosity: Do you know anything about the "Tipton three" or are you going on a Knee Jerk reaction? And what does those poor soldiers being tortured unto death have anything to do with the U.S. allegedly abusing people in Guantanamo?

Do you think the U.S. allegedly abusing people in Guantanamo is Payback?

T.

A really great promotion for this movie to make it successful in NY (besides just the America-bashing, which is usually enough to get New Yorkers in the door) is to maybe offer free whips to the first 400 patrons so they can express their guilty noble self-flagellation a little more literally. Or maybe they can have a couple of imams around after each screening for guilty progressives to prostrate themselves apologetically in front of and unburden their imperialist guilt. Of course we won't expect them to reciprocate by denouncing the beheaders, since those guys are just misunderstood freedom fighters.

uncle sam

I can't wait to see this film.

T.

When do you think the two kidnapped and murdered soldiers will get a high-profile documentary with a star-studded screening. Oh wait, that's right, never.