Part documentary, part agitative propaganda, The Road to Guantanamo tells the story of four young Pakistani Britons (Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul and their friend, Monir) and their journey from their native country to nearby Afghanistan in the weeks following the September 11 attacks in New York City.
However, it is not a mere coincidence that the four men find themselves in such a war torn and volatile country. The group decided to make a side trip to the nation out of pure curiosity - an odd decision which the film never quite takes head-on. The situation for the Afghan rebels is quite dire, with hundreds of U.S. bombs slamming the lifeless deserts and scattered villages in constant barrages. The Northern Alliance, the native group of shady freedom fighters who have been warring with the Taliban and Al Queda for decades, discovers the four men amongst Taliban forces in the village of Kunduz. Chaos ensues as three of the four men are captured.
Minutes before the prisoners are taken, the friends lose track of Monir - who had been bed-ridden for days with an unknown illness and had appeared to leave the village with another group of fighters. The men are forced to abandon searching for Monir as they (along with dozens of Taliban fighters) are herded into poorly ventilated cargo trucks.
As a consequence for being discovered alongside anti-American fighting forces, the three are immediately flown to Camp Guantanamo - a Cuban military base that houses Muslims suspected to have ties to terrorism. The base serves as an interrogation center where the American military exercises the right to squeeze information out of detainees in the hopes of gaining an advantage over enemy combatants. What follows are several weeks of torture, mental abuse, graphic insults and intense questioning from American and British military leaders.
The underlying controversy of the film is the presumed guilt of the three detainees, and their eventual redemption from the accusations by way of alibis. The violent attitude of the captors toward the captives adds more guilt to this sad revelation. American soldiers yell at the prisoners constantly, demanding that they acquiesce all personal freedoms or be shot through the temple. The men, young and old, are forced to live in chain-link dog cages for segments of their stay, and are not allowed to speak unless spoken to first. The group is herded like cattle, and unable to find shade from the oppressive sun.
One thing to note about The Road to Guantanamo is the fact that the story is recounted and based upon only three real-world accounts: those of the actual ex-detainees the actors portray in the film. There are no accounts from human rights experts, U.S. military representatives or the soldiers who actually work in Guantanamo. This lends a bit of disbelief towards the story, as the viewer is only given the “victims” side of the account to make a judgment call on whether the movie has merit or not.
Beyond these inconsistencies, the story is a very moving one. The fact that such a camp exists pushed me to research the real base, if only to find some information on the “humane treatment” that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld claims is being executed. In light of the recent reports out of the camp that detail inhumane and degrading activities enacted by soldiers makes the parallels all the more poignant.
My main problem with The Road to Guantanamo is that it tackles a very big and complicated issue without presenting all of the facts. It’s as if the director is trying to force us to look at the three protagonists as representatives of all suspected and confirmed terrorists across the globe, while disguising it all as a neat, simple good guy versus bad guy story.
The video quality of the film is decent. Interestingly enough, the movie was shot entirely with DV cameras instead of film cameras - which explains the overall graininess of the footage. Black levels and contrast take a hit, especially in indoor, lighted environments. Details in characters’ faces are almost completely lost when lit from behind. In the audio realm, my only complaint covers the first third of the film. When the four men are conversing and hanging out in Pakistan, the audio quality is very poor and makes it difficult to understand what is being said.
For a documentary, the soundtrack is very good. Sweeping string arrangements are sprinkled throughout and highlight the sad and somber scenes, although I felt like there were some scenes that needed backing music and didn’t have any.
The Road to Guantanamo has no included extras - excluding a handful of previews for other Sony Pictures features. Not only is the lack of extra features inexcusable in the age of DVD’s, it also destroys some credibility that the movie could have gained by including commentary or info from established sources.
The Road to Guantanamo will likely inspire shock and anger Americans who know nothing of Guantanamo Bay. These same people probably don’t even know the meaning behind the word propaganda, so the message of this film will likely reach its target. I enjoy a good story as much as the next critic, but if you’re going to present your movie as a pseudo-documentary, you better give me more to go on.
Road to Guantanamo is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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