The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

This film uses chapter breaks and comic book-style illustrations to highlight the amusing, astonishing, and horrifying absurdity of its central tale: that of an Iraqi that was taken prisoner based upon false information. The same duo that borough us Gunner Palace, a look at the Iraq invasion from the eyes of an American soldier, now presents a view from the Iraqi side in this indie film nominated for an American Spirit Award.

Now, one may tend to discount the testimony of an Iraqi about innocence or the conditions at the prisons, or the treatment by interrogators, but the fact is that there is overwhelming documentation written by U.S. military in high positions attesting to the fact that up to 90% of the prisoners had no intelligence values and were "simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." These same military officers also knew of the inhumane conditions in the prisons and the fact that basic sanitation was lacking, and that the contractor-supplied food was rancid and infested and caused the prisoners to vomit and experience diarrhea after they ate. This would be obvious to anyone who saw the prisoners as they had all lost weight.

The treatment of the Iraqis as documented in this film brings shame upon all Americans as we are the ones who allow those responsible to remain in office.

I just saw the film at a sneak preview screening in New York where we did not know what we were seeing. It's not the kind of film I would normally see, but I found that Mr. Abbas' story opened my eyes to what average Iraqis have suffered in this war. More, his story--and the charges against him--would be extremely funny if were not for the fact that they are true. Yes, US intelligence thought he was plotting to kill Tony Blair. How they thought he was supposed to do that (the only evidence they found was a bottle of shampoo!) is beyond me. The real shocker in the film is just how bad the conditions in Abu Ghraib were. The army admits now that up to 80% of the 1000s of prisoners there were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I also agree with the previous poster that the comic imagery is a surprise, but it does work. The whole story reads like a comedy of errors--complete with cartoonish villains.

An expanded version of this Kafkaesque film screened today at the SXSW Film Festival. The film, a spin off from Tucker and Epperstein's earlier Iraq film, Gunner Palace, tells the story of an ordinary Iraqi arrested and held at Abu Gharib for no apparent reason. Yunnis Abbas is an articulate English-speaking Iraqi journalist - who was once imprisoned and tortured by one of Saddam's sons - is arrested during a raid one night, along with 3 of his brothers, for no apparent reason. He is interrogated and held for 9 months and then suddenly released. There is no expalnation for his detention under awful conditions in an outdoor tent complex at Abu Gharib. There is no evidence beyond a vague and unsubstantiated accusation that he is somehow involved in a plot to kill British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The film tells a story that Americans need to hear. It is one of thousands of such human tales that occur every day in American-occupied Iraq. This story of the injustice done to a single man is a microcosm of the insane nature, brutality, and intelligence failures that have come to typify the war in Iraq. The surreal nature of American soldiers chasing shadows of terrorists is plain to see. While there have been many good films about the Iraq War, this one does an excellent job of humanizing the cost so that Americans can see the destructive and incompetent nature of the human tragedy playing out in Iraq. The film is stark and disturbing to watch with touches of dark humor.

The version screened here at SXSW has been significantly expanded to 72 minutes from the 54 minute version that screened in Toronto. The director has added an extended interview with a recently discharged US soldier (Thompson) who guarded Yassin Abbas in Abu Gharib. His presence adds a human element to the American presence. It shows that while many individual soldiers are competent, well-intentioned, and humane, the American presence has become a self-destructive nightmare.

This film should be widely viewed by Americans, particularly those who believe that we are succeeded in winning the "War on Terror" through our continued presence in Iraq.

Imagine you're an Iraqi journalist who captures images and stories of the American occupation. Some of the stories show the humanity of the soldiers befriending the kids, giving them chocolates or playing soccer with them. You watch your once beautiful country burn and see nothing except an apocalyptic scene that is now your reality.

Yunnis Abbas is the subject of this film. He was once taken prisoner and tortured by Uday Hussein. Under the American occupation, Abbas is mistaken, along with his brothers, as insurgents who are building a bomb in their home. The brothers are all good people with responsible jobs and a devotion to their mom. All of the brothers, including Yunnis, are taken and interrogated but of course, they know nothing about the insurgents because they are ordinary men caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. An embedded videographer who accompanied the Marines on a raid of the Abbas' family home films Yunnis as he's got his hands on his head and proclaiming innocence--he's just a journalist. Nobody believes him.

This is an unsettling film. One day you're on the beach or celebrating at a friend's party. The next thing you know, you're caught up in the hell of Abu Ghraib, accused of plotting to kill British prime minister, Tony Blair, because you've done some work for the BBC.

This is indeed another documentary about the injustice that so many Iraqis see as they try to eek out an existence under the American occupation. What the viewer sees here is the difficulty that the Americans have in identifying the good guys from the bad. They also have little awareness that they themselves may actually be the bad guys of this situation. Sure, they perceive themselves as liberators but are they when so many Iraqi men are rounded up and questioned mercilessly about their involvement with anti-U.S. activity.

The film isn't perfect--it resembles an extended 60 Minutes interview with a man who has definitely been wronged, along with his brothers. One of the most emotionally engaging scenes is when the brothers ask if their mom is okay; they're not to sure if the soldiers will cause harm to their mother. One soldier responds kindly while another one dismisses their pleas to take care of their mom.

The filmmaker uses an interesting technique of making certain parts resemble panels of a comic book. At first, I thought that this was odd and off-putting. In the end, it made a lot of sense. Comic books are full of good guys and villains. This war is also full of Rambos and guys who see themselves as the good guys. Whether they are or not remains to be something that will one day be determined in history texts.

I wholeheartedly agree with the review by 'pm-84' above. Who cares how many innocent Iraqis have to be treated sub-humanly and imprisoned for months on end? So long as Iraq is safe for Tony Blair to visit for a few hours when he feels like it, the war has been a success.

The film focuses on the imprisonment of Iraqi journalist Yunis Abbas, after his family home is raided by US forces who have received intelligence that Yunis is planning to bomb Tony Blair.

As 'pm-84' correctly points out, however, the real victim is Tony Blair. Everywhere Tony Blair goes, there may be people who want to do him harm. How are we to know who those people are until we imprison them for 9 months?

Despite their highlighting of the dangers faced by our brave Leaders, the filmmakers erred in showing sympathy to the enemy in a time of war, so for this I docked them one mark. 9/10.