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Kaffeine Buzz
reviews independent and foreign films,
in addition to reporting the latest buzz behind
Colorado's film festivals.
GITMO – The New Rules
of War (Erik Gandini and Tarik Saleh)
At this year’s LA Film Festival that ended
earlier this week, one of the festival’s
poolside chats included “Global Crisis:
Can Films Save the World?” that brought
in filmmakers from “Paradise Now,”
“The Hunting of the President,” and
the soon to be released, “Who Killed the
Electric Car” (look for our interview with
director Chris Paine in next week’s issue),
among others, to discuss how political cinema
can be a force for change.
Well, if our media continues to gloss over critical
issues in our world or ignore them all together,
we will have to rely on films like the ones mentioned
above, and GITMO, which comes to theaters this
Friday and is focused on getting to the bottom
of “what’s really going on”
in Guantanamo Bay.
Swedish filmmakers Erik Gandini and Tarik Saleh
were called to make this film after seeing the
father of Swedish detainee, Mehdi Ghezali, who
re-created the wire cell within a city square,
blindfolds himself and covers his head, telling
anyone who will listen of the conditions within
the Cuban territory where prisoners are detained
under different rules than those that were established
under the Geneva Convention.
Beginning on September 11, 2002 and filming until
June 1, 2005, the two and their crew ventured
around the world in search of the truth. Their
first stop is the prison camp itself. Met by an
eager military tour guide, the visit resembles
something closer to a summer vacation jaunt than
a place that has become a center for controversy
and interrogation practices, which have been questioned
by every corner of the globe. There are golf courses
and the conveniences of home provided to the soldiers
and MPs, including fast food joints like Subway
and McDonalds.
Their view of the camp is from a distance on
a boat, which becomes a metaphor for the movie
itself, as military interviews and political speeches
from officials dance around pointed questions,
using the cloned sound bytes derived from the
same Bush Administration chip planted into their
brains.
We learn that earlier in 2002, the administration
created their own international paradigm on February
7, stating that because of terrorists threats,
the Geneva convention could not be applied to
terrorists, and a new name for those captured
and targeted were now “unlawful combatants.”
Now these unlawful combatants are in cells at
Guantanamo Bay with no real evidence to convict
them, only circumstances that led to their imprisonment.
In the case of Ghezali, it was believed that he
was in the wrong place at the wrong time, which
is a circumstance that comes up quite often when
discussing the fate of prisoners.
After being held for six months with no hope
of being released and answering every question
thrown at him by the interrogators, Ghezali became
silent. Other prisoners have done the same, which
led to a whole new list of interrogation methods
to break the silence, from using phobia tactics
like a fear of dogs, to lowering temperatures
to below freezing.
But some were talking, including released prisoners
that had much to say about their treatment, which
was in direct contrast to the “democracy,”
“humane” and “fair treatment
in line with the Geneva Convention” that
has been consistently stated by military and government
officials. To add bite to the evidence, which
includes a document listing commonly used practices,
a private contractor confirmed the list to be
true, but stated that the tactics were ineffective
because not only do they not get any information,
but any they do get is limited.
Another key appearance is made by Janice Karpensky,
who was demoted from her post as Chief of the
Military Police at Abu Ghraib after an apparent
shoplifting incident. Unlike General Rick Baccus,
the former commander at Guantanamo Bay who was
dismissed to a desk job for being too nice and
questioning interrogation practices, Karpensky
didn’t sign a Non-disclosure Statement.
She was free to talk about how the practices from
Guantanamo spread to Abu Ghraib, all under the
direction of General Miller, who replaced Baccus
and has played a central role in both camps and
how things are run.
We see Miller, Rumsfeld and even our president
stating blatant lies from their lips, making the
soldiers at Abu Ghraib, along with Karpensky,
the fall guys in the scandal that hit the media
via the pictures of those being tortured and the
part that we played in it.
Again, there is no reason why this story should
have stopped when the soldiers were sentenced.
GITMO is still open for businesses and just last
month, two Saudis and one Yemeni committed suicide
by using sheets to hang themselves. They had been
held there since 2002 when the camp first opened,
and 41 other suicide attempts have taken place
since that time.
Another documentary, "Road to Guantanamo,"
premiered in New York on June 23, created by filmmakers
Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitescross who follow
the path of three British men and their trip to
Pakistan for a wedding, which ends with their
imprisonment in GITMO.
So to find out what’s really going on,
switch off the TV and head to the movie theaters.
That seems to have become today’s way, aside
from the Internet, of staying informed.
www.atmo.se
-Kim Owens, July 5, 2006
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