(photo from Taxi to the Dark Side)
Five years into the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a number of remarkable films have already been made that address the conflicts in differing ways. A significant number of documentaries, of course, have covered nearly every angle of the conflicts; Iraq in Fragments; Gunner Palace; Occupation: Dreamland; My Country, My Country; When I Came Home; The Blood of My Brother; The War Tapes, and of course the one that started it all Fahrenheit 9/11.
As part of the festival this year we have three very different documentaries coming at the conflict from a variety of angles. First up, ThinkFilm’s Taxi to the Dark Side (directed by Alex Gibney), a disturbing look at the trio of hell-holes that became front and center in the prisoner torture scandals—Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Secondly, Gary Weimberg and Catherine Ryan’s Soldiers of Conscience, a fascinating mix of U.S. soldiers who are either still in, or recently returning Iraq War soldiers who have, for varying reasons, decided to apply for conscientious objector status. Not surprisingly, the Army reacts poorly to this kind of thinking outside of their big camouflage box. One of the wonderful things about this film is the ideological spread of people they interviewed—both right and left-wingers, atheists and Christians—all of whom have decided in their own ways and for their own reasons that this war was an unjust and/or immoral fight. Last but not least, Operation Filmmaker, the new doc by Nina Davenport about an entirely different aspect of the war, which, in the end, goes as far awry as anything else. Liev Schreiber, while filming Everything is Illuminated, reads about an Iraqi film student whose school had been bombed and destroyed and decides to invite him along to help out while Illuminated is filming in the Czech Republic. Shortly after arrival, Muthana, the Iraqi film student, professes his love for George W. and, needless to say, things deteriorate from there.
We’ll bring this all together with a panel centered around the films, and the war itself, called Bringing the War Home.
And, in case you’re thinking that we’re nearing the end of the era of Iraq war documentaries, just wait…Errol Morris’ new film, not yet finished, is about Abu Ghraib and opening at the Starz FilmCenter on November 2, one week before the festival, is Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue’s heartbreaking Body of War.
