Nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, Best Documentary, The Road to Guantanamo by Michael Winterbottom & Matt Whitecross is a very challenging movie. It won the Silver Bear at Berlin 2006 but seems to have had little effect in the US, with the exception of the small controversy over the poster art when the movie hit theaters (uncensored version at right). The “Tipton Three” are British-Pakistani young men who went to Pakistan with a fourth for their buddy’s wedding but wound up taking a detour into Afghanistan as the war was breaking out. They were captured by American soldiers and imprisoned for 3 years in Afghanistan and later Guantanamo before being released without charges.

Their story is told through a mix of interviews with the men themselves as they tell their story, from beginning to end, combined with reenactments of those stories. To say that all of the American and British soldiers and officials appear to be not only barbaric but also largely incompetent in those reenactments is not an overstatement, and one of the reasons the movie is frustrating. Winterbottom doesn’t want us to be comfortable; the film is meant to illustrate the many reasons why holding “enemy combatants” without any kind of trial is wrong. It is.

It’s also wrong to torture people for years on end; even prisoners. Doesn’t our Constitution ban “cruel and unusual punishment”? Or does it only apply when the punished are citizens? That would really be hypocritical but evidently true. If you believe any or even part of this movie, you will be unsettled over and over again.

But there is also some analysis of the situation that goes unexplored, which is also frustrating. As an American viewing this film, I felt like a child being scolded and I wanted to point the finger back and ask questions, like why would young men go into a country that was about to be invaded? Why do they drive all over the place, seemingly without motive or goals? Maybe I missed some explanation under their heavy British accents or maybe the filmmaker decided that though their actions were odd, they weren’t criminal so why examine it in favor of spending more screen time with modes of torture and endless questioning.

Especially with elections around the corner, I do think this is the “eat your peas” variety of documentary. Get informed about what is going on in the world so we know the right questions to ask when the political scene starts to heat up again. But this film is also a case for media literacy – analyze the message. I do believe that innocent people get caught in drag nets more often than is necessary, especially when racism and imperialism are at work, but I’d be surprised if everyone at Guantanamo or in American custody elsewhere are innocent. What is the right way to handle those who are not affiliated with government military but who go to war against nations?

indieWIRE interview with Matt Whitecross

Channel 4 interview with Michael Winterbottom