Fedor Sendak
The road to guantanamo
THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (2006)
Directed by Micheal Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross
95 minutes
In English and Urdu with English subtitles
Well now that Obama is in power, its clear that he is trying to cool down the image of Guantanamo since it has gotten such bad press. The problem is that now after two months he is going back on most of the promises he made about it and how it operates. It seems he is continuing many of the practices and aims of Bush, but just trying to put a happy face on it.
For example, he now says that \"waterboarding\" (controlled drowning) should continue \"in some cases\". He also said he was going to release the photos of prisoner abuse for the sake of transparency.... but of course now he says he isn\'t going to release them. And even if he did release them like he promised, he was only talking about 44 photographs out of an estimated 2000 that the government is withholding.
Right now, under Obama there are still reports from Guantanamo of prisoners being systematically tortured, hogtied, severely beaten with noses and bones being broken, of sexual humiliation, of various forms of severe medical torture, etc, etc, etc. Like i said, these are not old stories, these are under Obama. And whats more he is now trying to pass laws were prisoners can be held indefinitely without trial, and he is also trying to intstute \"preventive confinement\" (prisoners to be held not for what they have done in the past, but for what they might do in the future!).
Personally I feel that if Obama had any integrity he would not only have closed the Guantanamo center immediately, but would also have arrested everyone working there for human rights abuse.
So that means its time to go back and look at this classic film by Michael Winterbottom and remember what that whole \"detention center\" is all about.....
- Jeffrey
MONDAY JUNE 1
THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO (2006)
Directed by Micheal Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross
95 minutes
In English and Urdu with English subtitles
Strangely enough, after all this time, this film by Micheal Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, 9 Songs) is still the only film which deals with the issue of Guantanamo despite the fact that this American military base has served as a detainment camp for suspected members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban since shortly after 9/11. Its use is strategic because, by existing outside the continental United States, detainees are not considered to be under American laws that regulate the humane treatment of prisoners. There have been many claims of torture and abuse at Guantanamo camps, with calls from human rights groups around the world for its immediate closure.
Part drama, part documentary, The Road to Guantanamo tells the true story of the Tipton Three, three British citizens who were arrested in Afghanistan in early 2002. The three men—Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal, and Shafiq Rasul—were detained at Guantanamo Bay for two years. While detained they were denied legal representation and experienced severe mistreatment and coercion under duress in attempts to solicit confessions. They were released in 2004 without charge and have provided some of the best first hand accounts of what the government is doing to supposed terrorists. This great film won the Silver Bear award at the Berlin Film festival.
The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jCC-CyI_0I
DE NIEUWE ANITA
Frederik Hendrikstraat 111 (Hugo de Grootplein)
Doors open at 19:30
Film starts at 20:30 sharp
Amsterdam, NL
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