list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around The Road to Guantanamo on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/The_Road_to_Guantanamo/275042/default.aspx Title: The Road to Guantanamo
Year: 2006
Director: Mat Whitecross, Michael Winterbottom
Plot: Winner of the Silver Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, The Road to Guantanamo, directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, uses interviews, news footage, and reenactments to tell the story of the Tipton Three, young British men of Pakistani descent who were detained for over two years without charges at Guantanamo Bay by the American military. Shafiq (played by Riz Ahmed in the reenactments), Ruhel (Farhad Harun), Asif (Arfan Usman), and Monir (Waqar Siddiqui) traveled to Pakistan to take part in Asif's wedding to a Pakistani girl. Once in Pakistan, they hooked up with Zahid (Shahid Iqbal), Shafiq's cousin, and they all met in Karachi. There, they attended a mosque, where the imam urged worshipers to help those in need in Afghanistan, and where an inexpensive bus trip over the border was organized. Out of a sense of charity, or perhaps a naïve lust for adventure, the young men decided to travel to Afghanistan. The American bombing campaign begins shortly after they arrive. While trying to get back over the border, they find themselves in the Taliban stronghold of Konduz, where they are captured by the Northern Alliance during the Taliban surrender. At this point, Monir is separated from the group, and they never see him again. Shafiq, Ruhel, and Asif are brought to Sheberghan prison, where they are detained under miserable conditions, until the Americans discover that they are British. At that point, their journey to Guantanamo begins. Asif Iqbal, Ruhel Ahmed, and Shafiq Rasul describe their ordeal at the hands of American and British intelligence, who were determined to get them to confess their nonexistent links to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, while the brutal scenes are reenacted onscreen. The Road to Guantanamo was shown at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
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]]>Mon, 12 May 2008 20:10:34 GMTThe Road to Guantanamo2006Mat Whitecross, Michael WinterbottomWinner of the Silver Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, The Road to Guantanamo, directed by <a href="/players/P___194595/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Michael Winterbottom</a> and Mat Whitecross, uses interviews, news footage, and reenactments to tell the story of the Tipton Three, young British men of Pakistani descent who were detained for over two years without charges at Guantanamo Bay by the American military. Shafiq (played by Riz Ahmed in the reenactments), Ruhel (Farhad Harun), Asif (Arfan Usman), and Monir (Waqar Siddiqui) traveled to Pakistan to take part in Asif's wedding to a Pakistani girl. Once in Pakistan, they hooked up with Zahid (Shahid Iqbal), Shafiq's cousin, and they all met in Karachi. There, they attended a mosque, where the imam urged worshipers to help those in need in Afghanistan, and where an inexpensive bus trip over the border was organized. Out of a sense of charity, or perhaps a naïve lust for adventure, the young men decided to travel to Afghanistan. The American bombing campaign begins shortly after they arrive. While trying to get back over the border, they find themselves in the Taliban stronghold of Konduz, where they are captured by the Northern Alliance during the Taliban surrender. At this point, Monir is separated from the group, and they never see him again. Shafiq, Ruhel, and Asif are brought to Sheberghan prison, where they are detained under miserable conditions, until the Americans discover that they are British. At that point, their journey to Guantanamo begins. Asif Iqbal, Ruhel Ahmed, and Shafiq Rasul describe their ordeal at the hands of American and British intelligence, who were determined to get them to confess their nonexistent links to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, while the brutal scenes are reenacted onscreen. The Road to Guantanamo was shown at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide15Tag Target (>10)7213http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t87012lq3e6.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/The_Road_to_Guantanamo/275042/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/cinemarian/archive/2008/5/12/28673.aspx Post By: CinemaRian
Post To: CinemaRian Blog
Post Date: 5/12/2008 4:10:34 PM
Body: Here is a scenario for you. You are a middle ranking US army officer, a Captain or Major. It is a month after 9/11. America has (justifiably) invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to overthrow the Taliban regime that aided Osama Bin Laden and others who wished to harm this country. You are allied with the Northern Alliance, who also opposes the Taliban. One day, after an air strike over an Al Qaeda area, the Northern Alliance has captured about fifty people over this region. Among them are three British citizens who left the UK a week after 9/11, flew to Pakistan, and from their crossed over the Afghanistan border. They passed through the two biggest cities, Kandahar and Kubul, and rode a van to this isolated Al Qaeda region out in the middle of nowhere. What do you do? I would detain and question them. The men, named Ruhul Ahmed, Asif Iqbul and Shafiq Rasul were later released after two years in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, apparently because they were innocent. Their story is recounted in Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, with Whitecross filming documentary interviews of the subjects and Winterbottom shooting realistic re-enactments of the men (now known as the Tipton Three). According to them (I don't see any reason why not to believe them) they were repeatedly subjected to inhumane conditions and torture. Where I am not sure I entirely believe them is there reason for being in Afghanistan. They claim they flew to Pakistan for Ahmed's wedding, then saw a speaker promoting charitable trips onto the neighboring country. After two weeks, they realized the charity was scam and asked to go back, but boarded the wrong van and ended up in an Al Qaeda area. Now, these guys must have been both really naïve AND really unlucky. Everyone knew an American invasion of Afghanistan was imminent after 9/11 it strikes me as rather fishy that they just happened to spontaneously go on a (non-existent) charitable mission into what everyone knew was about to be a war zone. And then, they just accidentally happen board the wrong van. Of course, it's possible that there story is true and they were just haplessly in the wrong place and the wrong time. Wouldn't it be reasonable for someone to question them until figuring that out? At this point, it seems that I have made a pretty good case against the film's position, but the scenes in Guantanamo are powerful and shocking in of themselves. Everyone was repeatedly subjected to medieval treatment. One scene shows the men and handcuffed in a stress position in a room with no light, and then forced to listen to industrial metal for hours on end. Another shows a British ambassador (later revealed to be an American posing as one) claiming that Ahmed's entire family will be deported to Pakistan if he does not confess. None are ever allowed to see a lawyer (although they are eventually permitted to see real representatives of the British embassy). After countless hours of torture, they admit to being in at an Al Qaeda rally in 2000, which ends up being their ticket out of there, because the British government has documented evidence that they in the UK at that time. Two weeks ago at a Republican presidential debate, John McCain, who was tortured in an North Vietnamese prison camp, was the only candidate from his party to oppose torture. He argued it didn't work, that eventually the victim will say anything just to stop the abuse, even confessing to something they didn't do, as is documented in this film (another example of this is Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father). So we have an interesting quandary here. I believe it was reasonable to for the US government to be suspicious of these men and detain them, but the methods by which they interrogated them was not only sadistic and wrong, but ineffective. Winterbottom and Whitechapel correctly argue the second point, but are intentionally blind at ignoring the first. What was the government supposed to do? As them if they were terrorists, and if they said no, release them immediately? Afterthought: After reading many reviews for this movie, I was disturbed by the knee-jerk reaction of many critics, and the blatant anti-American bias of foreign ones. The torture was and is wrong, ineffective and evil, but to read these reviews you would think the US government framed these men, and also ignore the fact that there are certainly lots of people imprisoned by at Guantanamo who really are terrorists who mean the country harm. The Road to Guantanamo (2006)
]]>Mon, 12 May 2008 20:10:34 GMTCinemaRianCinemaRian Blog5/12/2008 4:10:34 PMHere is a scenario for you. You are a middle ranking US army officer, a Captain or Major. It is a month after 9/11. America has (justifiably) invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to overthrow the Taliban regime that aided Osama Bin Laden and others who wished to harm this country. You are allied with the Northern Alliance, who also opposes the Taliban. One day, after an air strike over an Al Qaeda area, the Northern Alliance has captured about fifty people over this region. Among them are three British citizens who left the UK a week after 9/11, flew to Pakistan, and from their crossed over the Afghanistan border. They passed through the two biggest cities, Kandahar and Kubul, and rode a van to this isolated Al Qaeda region out in the middle of nowhere. What do you do? I would detain and question them. The men, named Ruhul Ahmed, Asif Iqbul and Shafiq Rasul were later released after two years in the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, apparently because they were innocent. Their story is recounted in Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, with Whitecross filming documentary interviews of the subjects and Winterbottom shooting realistic re-enactments of the men (now known as the Tipton Three). According to them (I don't see any reason why not to believe them) they were repeatedly subjected to inhumane conditions and torture. Where I am not sure I entirely believe them is there reason for being in Afghanistan. They claim they flew to Pakistan for Ahmed's wedding, then saw a speaker promoting charitable trips onto the neighboring country. After two weeks, they realized the charity was scam and asked to go back, but boarded the wrong van and ended up in an Al Qaeda area. Now, these guys must have been both really na&iuml;ve AND really unlucky. Everyone knew an American invasion of Afghanistan was imminent after 9/11 it strikes me as rather fishy that they just happened to spontaneously go on a (non-existent) charitable mission into what everyone knew was about to be a war zone. And then, they just accidentally happen board the wrong van. Of course, it's possible that there story is true and they were just haplessly in the wrong place and the wrong time. Wouldn't it be reasonable for someone to question them until figuring that out? At this point, it seems that I have made a pretty good case against the film's position, but the scenes in Guantanamo are powerful and shocking in of themselves. Everyone was repeatedly subjected to medieval treatment. One scene shows the men and handcuffed in a stress position in a room with no light, and then forced to listen to industrial metal for hours on end. Another shows a British ambassador (later revealed to be an American posing as one) claiming that Ahmed's entire family will be deported to Pakistan if he does not confess. None are ever allowed to see a lawyer (although they are eventually permitted to see real representatives of the British embassy). After countless hours of torture, they admit to being in at an Al Qaeda rally in 2000, which ends up being their ticket out of there, because the British government has documented evidence that they in the UK at that time. Two weeks ago at a Republican presidential debate, John McCain, who was tortured in an North Vietnamese prison camp, was the only candidate from his party to oppose torture. He argued it didn't work, that eventually the victim will say anything just to stop the abuse, even confessing to something they didn't do, as is documented in this film (another example of this is Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father). So we have an interesting quandary here. I believe it was reasonable to for the US government to be suspicious of these men and detain them, but the methods by which they interrogated them was not only sadistic and wrong, but ineffective. Winterbottom and Whitechapel correctly argue the second point, but are intentionally blind at ignoring the first. What was the government supposed to do? As them if they were terrorists, and if they said no, release them immediately? Afterthought: After reading many reviews for this movie, I was disturbed by the knee-jerk reaction of many critics, and the blatant anti-American bias of foreign ones. The torture was and is wrong, ineffective and evil, but to read these reviews you would think the US government framed these men, and also ignore the fact that there are certainly lots of people imprisoned by at Guantanamo who really are terrorists who mean the country harm. The Road to Guantanamo (2006) http://www.spout.com/groups/Real_movies/what_is_your_favorite_foreign_documentary/257/12320/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: lukasblu
Post To: Real movies
Post Date: 6/27/2007 1:48:09 AM
Body: for the recent documentaries,i would say The Road to Guantanamo (2006);it was very touching;it is amazing how a few(british-muslim) guys visiting a wedding or off to a humanitarian project could be mistaken as terrorist and land all the way to guantanomo.On top of that the treatment of these guys looks worse than any other american jail/prison documentary i have ever seen;it is like a murphys law for this four guys(later became three guys).Anything bad,or the worse that can happen, happen;Since i saw this movie on tv,i wonder if there are extra features on dvd that would give me further insight about this movie??i just read from commentaries online and the official website for this movie that this could be docudrama/mokumentary/or part documentary and part dramatizationHas anyone else seen this movie? Or any other great foreign documentaries(maybe documentaries with controversial subjects?)they would like to discuss
]]>Wed, 27 Jun 2007 05:48:09 GMTlukasbluReal movies6/27/2007 1:48:09 AMfor the recent documentaries,i would say The Road to Guantanamo (2006);it was very touching;it is amazing how a few(british-muslim) guys visiting a wedding or off to a humanitarian project could be mistaken as terrorist and land all the way to guantanomo.On top of that the treatment of these guys looks worse than any other american jail/prison documentary i have ever seen;it is like a murphys law for this four guys(later became three guys).Anything bad,or the worse that can happen, happen;Since i saw this movie on tv,i wonder if there are extra features on dvd that would give me further insight about this movie??i just read from commentaries online and the official website for this movie that this could be docudrama/mokumentary/or part documentary and part dramatizationHas anyone else seen this movie? Or any other great foreign documentaries(maybe documentaries with controversial subjects?)they would like to discuss http://www.spout.com/blogs/billhr/archive/2007/1/5/4966.aspx Post By: billhr
Post To: Movies on appliedthinking
Post Date: 1/5/2007 1:55:53 PM
Body: I finally got to catch The Road to Guantanamo last night. This docu-drama was directed by Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Wonderland and 9 Songs) and Mat Whitecross. The film tells the story of 3 young men from England (but of Pakistani descent) who find themselves in the middle of Kondoz, Afghanistan (a Taliban stronghold) in the midst o the American attachs in 2001. As a result, they spent years in the prisons of Sheberghan and Guantanamo and were subjected to most of the now infamous interrogation techniques. What I found most interesting about this film was the use of a wide range of story-telling elements. From reenactments to interviews to news footage, Winterbottom and Whitecross are able to capture the entirety of these men's ordeal...and most of the emotion behind it all. An amazing job of filmmaking, certainly reminiscent of One Day in September...although a much more personal telling of a highly politicized story. Originally posted on:appliedthinking
]]>Fri, 05 Jan 2007 18:55:53 GMTbillhrMovies on appliedthinking1/5/2007 1:55:53 PM I finally got to catch The Road to Guantanamo last night. This docu-drama was directed by Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, Wonderland and 9 Songs) and Mat Whitecross. The film tells the story of 3 young men from England (but of Pakistani descent) who find themselves in the middle of Kondoz, Afghanistan (a Taliban stronghold) in the midst o the American attachs in 2001. As a result, they spent years in the prisons of Sheberghan and Guantanamo and were subjected to most of the now infamous interrogation techniques. What I found most interesting about this film was the use of a wide range of story-telling elements. From reenactments to interviews to news footage, Winterbottom and Whitecross are able to capture the entirety of these men's ordeal...and most of the emotion behind it all. An amazing job of filmmaking, certainly reminiscent of One Day in September...although a much more personal telling of a highly politicized story. Originally posted on:appliedthinking http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/british/MemberTagFilms.aspxbritish
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