The Road to Guantanamo

This docu-drama focuses on the story of the 'Tipton Three' - young guys from Birmingham who went to Pakistan to organise a wedding, decided to pop over to Afghanistan (I can only assume through naivety, ignorance and a misguided sense of adventure) to 'help' (though it appeared that little effort was made) and ended up getting embroiled in the conflict, captured with Taliban fighters and subsequently picked up by US Marines for the crime of speaking English in a foreign country. From this point 'til their release, they are essentially told that they are Al Qaeda in the hope that they'll admit to what is obviously not true.

If you can put yourself in their places, this is a harrowing film. (I spent a lot of it with my hand over my mouth...!) Being in a situation where you are being bullied and tortured - via some truly horrible methods and treatment - into admitting you're something you're not, with no means of proving your innocence must be...well, I can only imagine. I have every respect with the way they seemed to deal with it, especially given the candid way they discuss it in the documentary inserts that regularly appear throughout the movie.

For those who think it's unbalanced: I understand. However, it is THEIR story. Certain troops are shown in a human light, though let's face it: from what the film tells us, we're dealing with a situation involving the US equivalent of the SS… You want the other side of the story? Listen to any George W. Bush press conference.

The acting is natural, the story flows, some of the shots are dramatically documentary-like and I felt that it fully deserved the praise it's received. Sadly, I feel that the only people who will watch this are the ones who are aware of the issues already, while middle-America will, I dare say, completely ignore it. Either way, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend spending 95 minutes of your time taking it all in. Sleeping afterwards might be a problem though. It was for me.

Even if a third of what the Tipton Three alleged to have happened to them is true, that should outrage all Americans.

But since there seems to be this belief - perpetuated by Dubya and his cronies - that this administration is somehow doing all this to protect us Americans from the bad guys, there is no outrage that we torture prisoners, hold them without charges or access to counsel, deprive them of civil liberties, all in the name of security. What poppycock!

Michael Winterbottom's film does not answer an important question - exactly what kind of "help" were these three chaps going to provide in Afghanistan? However, what happened to them should embarrass all of us.

Our foreign policy is so dumb - we prohibit trade with and travel to Cuba because it's a communist nation, but have no qualms about trading with or allowing travel to China and Vietnam - and our leaders so hypocritical.

Dubya claims to have freed Iraq from a brutal dictator (who, incidentally, was someone we supported not too long ago, when Dubya's dad was veep, to be exact, and Rummy was shaking hands with Saddam), and yet the people running Iraq today seem no better. They're still torturing people, violent militias carry out retribution killings, and our leaders stick their heads in the sand and say everything's alright.

"The Road to Guantanamo" is shot as a pseudo-documentary. The Tipton Three are portrayed as likable lugs who got caught up in something they never intended. There's an element of black comedy to all this - they keep their senses of humor as they recount the horrible, distasteful and despicable manner in which they're treated.

That we would have had an American pretending to be British to try and coerce these three men doesn't surprise me in the least. After all, it turns out Dubya considered painting the UN logo on a plane to tempt Saddam to shoot it down so we could have a reason to wage war. (Gulf of Tonkin, anyone?)

This is an incredibly difficult, at times harrowing, film to watch. There are those of us who still, foolishly perhaps, believe in the American ideal. A nation that stands for human rights and decent treatment of prisoners. But, I know, reality is far different. We have a Supreme Court justice who scoffs at giving Gitmo prisoners their day in court and a government that believes the Geneva Conventions are antiquated.

We apparently want to show the world we're the beacon of freedom and treat everyone - including alleged criminals - with certain rights, such as due process. And that's what we're trying to instill in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, in practice, we do exactly the opposite.

"The Road to Guantanmo" works because Winterbottom never lets go, never eases up to allow us to feel comfortable. Watching what happens to the Tipton Three is awfully disquieting. It is shameful that we behave like this. What's more worrisome is there seems to be such a lack of outrage among Americans that we're doing this. This administration (and its blowhard allies) have done such a wonderful job convincing Americans that speaking out against their policies is tantamount to being unpatriotic.

I realize many will reject Winterbottom's film because it doesn't cast the United States in all honorable light. It shows how vicious, uncaring and brutal we are, even though our leaders continue to deny everything.

I can only hope that years from now, we will be thoroughly ashamed of how our government treated people in the war on terror, just as we now feel shame for how we treated Japanese-Americans during WWII.

"The Road to Guantanamo" is an important film. I hope now that it has an American distributor, more people will be exposed to it. I am sure the right-wing demagogues will attack it as anti-American and tell us that seeing it would be unpatriotic. (Then again, I don't need OxyContin to function daily.)

The MPAA banned the initial poster for this film because it depicted a man with his wrists tied and a burlap sack over his head and that apparently is too much for our children to see. It's quite alright expose kids to horror-movie posters, but letting them see depictions of some of the despicable acts of our government is bad?

Because of AMPAS' dumb rules, I am certain this film won't be eligible for any Oscars. (It already has been shown on TV in the UK and is available on DVD there.) But "The Road to Guantanamo" must be seen by as many Americans as possible. You watch it and wonder, where has all our decency gone?

anyone still thinking that the war on terrorism is in defense of democracy and civil human rights must, in the light of what is documented in this film, reevaluate his/her position. it doesn't matter why these young men went to Afganistan - the way they are treated by the US government is appalling and i simply cannot understand how anyone claiming to be a civilized human being, can defend the crimes committed by US military personnel, as documented in this film. ...and remember - these 3 guys were lucky - they are British nationals and this means someone is looking out for them - their families live in GB and they have the possibility of putting pressure on the British government, but think of all the nameless Afghans and Pakistanis who are held by the US and their allies under even worse conditions.

brilliant film BTW!

When I watched 'The Road to Guantánamo', it was with the view that it would give a well-balanced look at Guantanamo and what is supposed to be happening in the camp. Instead, I have to agree with criticism that this was film was not only very anti-American but gave the impression the whole of Britain hated America.

I can't complain about the acting, which was first rate, especially when you consider this was a debut for most of the actors. Also, the actual plot (if you see it as fictional) was involving and gritty and that is why I do give the film a five-out-of-ten rating.

However, I loathed the fact the producers made out this was a true story and the events played out just as depicted in the film. No-one knows exactly why these men were in Afghanistan and I find it hard they were there out of purely innocent reasons. These were not sweet little boys plucked off the streets of London by the Big Bad Americans, they were grown men more than old enough to know what they were doing and they were caught with Afghan soldiers fighting against US troops. Also, we're just expected to take their word that they were tortured and abused when no-one knows exactly what went on in Guantánamo (I find it hard to believe the Americans would have been so heavy-handed on three Britons who had access to a lawyer).

I certainly don't think the Americans are innocents in all of this (the Afghan prisoners of Guantánamo should have access to lawyers) but they are far from the evil this film made them out to be. And they are probably more innocent than these three pretend to be. If anything, the only crime the Americans have really committed in my mind is not coming to take Abu Hamza off to their Cuban camp since the UK is so wrapped up in soft EU laws that we are forced to let this proved terrorist remain here in a lap of luxury.

As a work of fiction, this is a well-portrayed film but it just didn't ask enough questions. Why did these three feel the need to leave the UK for Afghanistan? Why were they so stupid to remain in the country if they were there by mistake? If they were so innocent, why were they caught in the heat of the fighting? Where is the actual physical evidence they were tortured?

The Road To Guantanamo a film which was screened on Channel 4 last night is a harrowing tale of injustice committed by the American Government under the guise of the war on terror.

Three innocent men, (actually four to begin with),childhood friends all British, 3 of Pakistani origin and one Bangladeshi ( not Arab as described by IronicFilmReference review) set off to Pakistan for a holiday and to attend the wedding of one of the 4 men.

With time on their hands before the wedding, stupidly they decide to go to Afghanistan to help with the relief effort at a time when the US is gearing up for an invasion.

When they realise the gravity of the situation in Afghanistan, they try to get back to Pakistan, instead they get taken deeper into the combat zone and there the 4 men from Tipton, became the Tipton 3 as one of their Friends (Monir) gets separated (and is never seen again).

Taken into custody by The US forces after surviving near starvation for a month at the hands of the Northern Alliance what should of been the end of their ordeal turns out to be just the beginning.What emerges next through interviews with the men and re-enactment of events is a tale of unbelievable treatment of the three men and incompetence at the hands of the US authorities.Routine humiliation and torture both physical and psychological in Afghanistan before they are sent to Guantanamo Bay, where they some how endure the same regime for a further 2 years.

This is an unmissable film/documentary of the above mentioned events which will have you question the freedoms and rights you enjoy so freely and how in this day and age the world is so silent on the injustice and blatant disregard for human rights that is taking place in Guantanamo Bay.Whatever else you do in 2006, watching this film should be at the top of your list.