The Guard

To my understanding this movie is about a human connection, which despite the unconducive circumstances can and should be made. Kristen Stewart is so young & unsophisticated here, that it makes her portrayal of a naive and innocent character very raw and touching.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Camp X-Ray" (2014) is nothing very superb or original, but it's a nice drama. Set in kinda unique place, it lets the very simple story of a friendship. Story about friendship would be simple, except that it occurs between two people from different universes, but at the end they get attached by a simple humanity. This a well acted, directed and written drama, which won't going to win any Oscars, but it will do just fine for one evening.

Overall, "Camp X-Ray" is nicely done drama, set in a unique location and features old as the movies itself plot about friendship between two different people, who wins each others respect and friendship due to common acts on decency.

Moving and emotionally charged performances by both Stewart and Moaadi from beginning to end. I was completely surprised by the subject matter of Gitmo, expecting a political message as the underlying theme, but it turned out to be a study of humanity and relationships within extreme circumstances. Impressive directorial debut of Sattler.

Stewart plays guard Amy Cole, a young marine from a small town who joined the military to escape her life. The movie centers around the conflict of her growing relationship with a prisoner, Moaadi, who has been in Gitmo for eight years. Both actors do justice to the storyline and these complex characters without building caricatures of military and extremist personalities. I'm not one for heavy military story lines, but I was pleasantly surprised by this film's twist to the Gitmo plot with a narrow lens on the people, not the politics. It's not all heavy subject matter....Moaadi adds some appreciated humor. Bottom line: worth my time.

This film affected me very deeply in a way I was not expecting.

Kristen Stewart and Peyman Moaadi deliver stunning performances which take your breathe away. You really feel for this guy and Stewart has never been more convincing. I thought it would be a stretch to imagine her as a tough soldier and it is kind of surreal yet she manages to create a credible person out of the role. Her emotional distress as the contradictions of her job as camp guard begin to overwhelm her, is very powerful and a pleasure to watch.

This film totally changed my mind about Gitmo. Just because it makes you realize the awful possibility that totally innocent people may be stuck there, and that unlike any other prison in the USA, there is no way for them to appeal or for anybody to appeal on their behalf.

There must be some way to allow mistakes to be corrected. It's not right.

It's amazing to me that I never saw it that way. I just assumed that they were all hard core bad guys. But what if they aren't.

That would be a terrible fate, and this film really punches home how terrible it would be.

The movie itself was quite good and I think that it lives up to a 7.5 star rating. Now, as said before I enjoyed the film but do understand that for many (Including myself) it can be seen as a little to slow...Until arriving to the climax, which is absolutely great! The thing is, that we need to understand what this movie is really trying to portray. Its showing us the crude reality of how heartless and dehumanizing humanity can be through the eyes of Cole (Kristen Stewart) who starts to see how harsh things are and as said in the movie "it's not all so black and white". Kristen Stewart's acting was good but nothing out of the ordinary... I have to say that Maddi's performance was very good and really interprets the character by truly reflecting what Ali was feeling and displaying his desperation of having been in Guantanamo Bay for 8 years. To sum it up, the movie is good and quite the worthwhile. Be patient at the beginning cause it gets better and better as it progresses.'