The fate of Iraqi detainees is examined in ''Taxi to the Dark Side.'' (Courtesy photo)

By Bob Polunsky
Movie Critic

“Taxi to the Dark Side” exposes things we don’t want to know about wars raging in the Middle East.

The events exposed are usually described as “political smears” in order to dismiss them. But they are too severe to be dismissed entirely.

The question is, what can be done about them? The only thing we – or those with the information – can do is to denounce them publicly.

Enough witnesses have denounced them to cause a stir, although not enough to eliminate them entirely. “Taxi to the Dark Side” contains information that was proven before it was filmed. It’s been confirmed, but, unfortunately, dismissed instead of being used as an example.

The documentary feature tells the story of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver accused of being a terrorist involved in a rocket attack.

He was tried and convicted in an Afghan court and died after less than a week of interrogation that included extreme torture. This was proved after the fact when Dilawar’s scarred body was exposed with all his limbs broken or maimed. He apparently had a very painful death that was not due to “natural causes” as the torturers intimated.

It was also proved that the informant was paid for his information and given a solemn promise that his own participation in the rocket attack would not be mentioned, but word of his participation still got out. It turned out that the informant himself was the terrorist involved in the rock attack.

A major American newspaper investigated the situation and found enough evidence to indict the American soldiers involved in those “natural causes” of Dilawar’s death. The enlisted men were arrested and later released. None of their commanding officers were called to task for the incident.

It sounds like a chapter out of the Abu Grahib prison debacle, and it is similar, especially when noting that only enlisted men were blamed.

The most shocking aspect is that the torture episodes were sanctioned, permitted or, worse yet, ignored by military authorities. That’s the loophole that enabled the documentary to be filmed and officially distributed. Michael Moore had nothing to do with it.  Neither did any specific political party.
Alex Gibney, the filmmaker of “Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room,” investigated the case before making the film. He included conflicting scenes showing officials admitting their participation in the torture even after they denied it in a courtroom.

Official statements endorsing the torture were produced and reviewed. As a result, the story of Dilawar and his untimely death has been legally distributed nationwide with reviews in major newspapers, and none of that material has been disputed. Those directly involved excused themselves by saying they were just following orders.

The film has been released without much comment from the studio, but no one has objected to its description as “a documentary film,” with “documentary” used to distinguish the events pictured as actual instead of fictional. 

Part of the film includes interviews with and about detainees at Guantanamo. Part of it includes interviews with American officials, soldiers and former prisoners who were tortured by the enemy. Part of it includes statement by U.S. Sen. John McCain, a former military officer and now Republican presidential nominee, who suffered torture from the enemy during the Vietnam conflict.

He has been very outspoken about the facts of “Taxi to the Dark Side,” calling them “shameful.” McCain endured torture when he was a prisoner of the enemy in Vietnam.
 
Studio rating: R for scenes of violence, torture and mutilation
Bob says: “Tough to watch but tougher to ignore”
4 Stars