March 30 — Provocate Presents a discussion of “Taxi to the Dark Side”
A paid American informant fingers an innocent Afghan taxi driver for a rocket attack. It’s later revealed the informant himself was actually the terrorist. The cabbie dies after five days of torture. That’s the entry point of Alex Gibney’s Oscar-winning documentary about American torture activities, illustrated with previously-unseen images, and including interviews with some of the torturers themselves, and disenchanted administration officials. Easy viewing? Probably not, but essential nonetheless … and even more essential to have an open discussion of the film’s issues.
When: The discussion will take place after the 6:00 PM showing on Sunday March 30 (so around 7:45 PM). “Taxi to the Dark Side” plays Friday March 28 2:00, 4:00, 6:00; Saturday March 29 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00; Sunday March 30 2:00, 4:00, 6, 8; to Thursday April 3
Where: Key Cinemas 4044 South Keystone Avenue Indianapolis, Indiana 46227 (driving directions)
“We also have to work through…the dark side…it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.”
— Vice President Dick Cheney to Tim Russert on “Meet the Press” (2001)
From the director of “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” Alex Gibney’s TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE is a gripping investigation into the reckless abuse of power by the Bush administration. By probing the homicide of an innocent taxi driver at the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, the film exposes a worldwide policy of detention and interrogation that condones torture and the abrogation of human rights. This disturbing and often brutal film is the most incisive examination to date of the Bush Administration’s willingness, in its prosecution of the “war on terror,” to undermine the essence of the rule of law. The film asks and answers a key question: what happens when a few men expand the wartime powers of the executive to undermine the very principles on which the United States was founded. Incorporating rare and never-before-seen images from inside the Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons, and interviews with former government officials such as John Yoo, Alberto Mora and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, interrogators, prison guards, New York Times reporters Tim Golden and Carlotta Gall (who wrote the first stories about the homicides in Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan) and the families of tortured prisoners, the film dissects the progression of the Administration’s policy on torture from the secret role of key administration figures, such as Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others to the soldiers in the field. In the face of thousands of prisoners passing through the system, an astonishing number of admitted homicides, and a hastily drafted law – the Military Commissions Act – that grants immunity to government officials for crimes against humanity while denying the fundamental right of habeas corpus to others, “Taxi to the Dark Side” forces us to ask why, in the face of so much evidence of the ineffectiveness of cruelty as a means of obtaining information, we sought to insist on its use? Have we, by pursuing such ruthless means, lost the moral high ground in the war on terror and made ourselves less safe? Even more important, have we compromised our own sense of humanity, our democratic values and our effectiveness as a world leader?
Know before you go … Visit the film’s website, which includes good reviews. For even more reviews (all positive), see Rotten Tomatoes.
If this film and discussion sound interesting, be sure to check out … The last time he talked at Marian College, Sen. Richard Lugar explored the immorality of tactics in the war on terrorism, see if he continues his own taxi ride away from the dark side May 4. You should also see some of the movies in the upcoming Indianapolis International Film Festival April 23 to May 3, including “Beyond Belief” — nominated for Provocate’s award on social action, this follows two 9/11 widows from Boston who become consumed with helping war widows in Afghanistan, sort of an anti-”Taxi to the Dark Side” and no less part of the story of the American Empire in the first decade of the 21st century.
For more information about America’s time on the dark side … Check out Provocate’s recommended readings about torture.
