Camino a Guantánamo

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 Tipton Three were there Britons of south Asian origin, mixed up in petty crime. Sufficiently Paskistani in identity to visit that country and feel reasonably at home, they were also sufficiently British to imagine it would be a good idea to extend their trip to Afghanistan, just to see what they would find. What they did find, of course, was war, the of death a friend, and then, just when they might have thought they were safe, torture and imprisonment at the hands of the Americans, first in Afghanistan and then in Guantanamo Bay. Michael Winterbottom's film is shot in many of the original locations, reconstructing their story: the reconstruction is accompanied by interviews with the men (in which they describe what happened, with little embellishment) and clippings from news stories at the time (a minority of which display what in retrospect seems outrageous bias in favour of the agreed western spin on the war). There's an element of black comedy in the way a group of uppity British lads somehow find themselves at war; but when the torture begins, it's hard not to get angry at the systematic disregard for the human rights of men who had been convicted of no crime. Also hard to escape is the sheer bone-headedness of their interrogators: convinced that their suspects work for "Al-Quaeda", which they seem to conceive of as some kind of unitary and institutional organisation, the Americans have no effective idea of what to do except to put this proposition to their suspects ad nauseam until they agree, with intermittent torture to ram home the point. That a confession in these circumstances would have means precisely nothing does not seem to have occurred to them. In fact, the men didn't break, which was presumably easier because they had no idea of the sort of information the Americans wanted from them. But (except at the very end), there were heroic acts of defiance in the fashion of the Hollywood prison movie either; against overwhelming force, such behaviour isn't really on.

I would have liked to see the suspects called to explain themselves a little further when they say they went to Afghansistan to "help", but overall, their stories make a grim kind of sense, and they lost three years of their lives for a foolish expedition. Now they are Muslims in a way they never were before, having gained strength through their religion in their darkest hour. This is an important and absorbing film, which as with the same director's 'In This World', reminds you of how large the world is. And also makes you want to scream: "Not in My Name!".

Clean cut, sharp and poignant, this is a documentary of those the British press named the "Tipton Three". Three young Englishmen tell their story of a wedding trip to Pakistan and an unplanned journey into Afghanistan. Victims of circumstance, their tale leads to incarceration in Guantanamo Bay and the apparently shocking treatment that ensued.

Whilst the story is told purely from the perspective of the detainees, there is never any point at which you really doubt the content of the film. In no way does the portrayal of events seem exaggerated or biased so as to evoke a stronger reaction from the audience. In parts sequences seem almost void of emotion in terms of their description, and surprisingly, the effect is to make it even more hard hitting. Not overcooking the trauma means what can only be assumed as a factual depiction of horrifying circumstances comes across quite superbly.

There are points where you can question the realism of the young men's decisions. For example, the point from which they want to leave Kabul back for Pakistan only to find themselves trapped with the Taliban is a little scantily dealt with. This may or may not be wholly accurate, and of course they felt compelled to follow those they felt were standing up for their religion, but from the individual interview footage you can't help feel they were impressionable youths just following their noses, lost in the surreal adventure of it all.

Perfectly paced, the film spends just the right amount of time on each area/location of the story. Winterbottom nicely interweaves footage from British television news to prompt recollection of the perspective from which the public saw the events in Afghanistan. And with a good balance of acted reconstruction and subject interview, both the drama and technicalities feel great. Is there no style or subject this man can't handle?

This is the reality of the dictatorship that we live under today. George Bush and his neocons have completely discarded the rule of law and are engaging in torture to pursue their evil ends.

This documentary shows what can happen not only to three Brits who were traveling to a wedding, but to anyone who lives in America under the present circumstances.

The military, who are not to blame as they were just ignorant rednecks following orders, are made to be cartoon characters. The "interregators" are just like police everywhere, they lie and deceive just to get someone to confess. The fact that they have been unable to get a confession shows just how ridiculous they are. Bellieve me, I would have confessed to buggery under those conditions.

Once we remove Bush from office in another 664 days, then Guantanamo should be closed and leveled to the ground so that not one stone sits atop another. It is too much to hope that Bush and his cohorts in crime would ever be borough to trial and punished as the war criminals they are for this sad chapter in our history.

The film provides an excellent portrayal of the horrors that the US and the UK have gone to in the pursuit of the War on Terror, and also a damning indictment of the workings of the minds that are behind this "War". I feel that the film may well deserve the acclaim it gets purely on the basis of the bravery that it cast and direction have shown in making it- their freedoms and possibly their careers may be impinged upon as a result.

This fact was well illustrated in the recent incident that I feel brings the reality of Guantanamo and the War on Terror closer to home. It was documented that the cast, returning to Luton having picked up the Silver Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, were taken aside and questioned by police. In a haunting piece of irony, the mini-detention at Luton airport served as a mirror of Guantanamo. The actors were racially insulted (a policewoman telling one actor-"I'll get my male colleague to handle you- you Muslims don't like dealing with women do you?"); physically provoked (a policeman wrestling one of the actor's phones out of his hand to inspect his phone book); denied any legal recourse (they were not allowed to call their lawyers); insulted (one of the actors was called a "f****r" by a police officer); and generally treated by the supposed arbiters of justice in such a way befitting of people who know they are above the law and thus permit themselves to do what they like. Such occurrences are now commonplace in the life of the Tipton Three. Will it be the same for the actors who had the courage to play them?