Taxi to the Dark Side & Paranoid Park
Due to time constraints (once again) and tiredness I am going to write just a few word about two very worthy films that I saw today.
Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side won this year's Oscar for Best Documentary. It is a film that everyone, especially Americans, should see. The film starts out with the arrest of an Afghani taxi driver named Dilawar. Dilawar is taken to Bagram prison on trumped up charges. He is tortured and five days later he is dead. The film moves onto the infamous prisons Abu Gharyb and Guantanamo. We learn that habeas corpus (or the right to a trial) is dead. Throughout the film there are interviews with a number of soldiers who participated in the torture of prisoners. Even when they are convicted it is for misconduct and never torture. Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George Dubya Bush all went along with this. But they all deny that the US tortures people. It is proven that if someone is tortured and in enough pain they will confess to anything (I just watched the DVD of the wonderful Goya's Ghosts - my second viewing since I saw it in the theater last summer - and torture is explored in that film). Sadly, there were only two other people in the audience when I saw the film. The United States should be ashamed of itself and Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others (along with Henry Kissinger) should be tried in an international court of law for crimes against humanity. But people in general should also be ashamed because they are not seeing this important film.
Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park is his best film in quite some time. I have not liked his last few films. Gerry is interesting but messy. Elephant was okay but certainly not worthy of winning the top prize in Cannes. And I loathed The Last Days. But I really liked Paranoid Park. Van Sant adapted it from a book by Blake Nelson. It is the story of a young skateboarder named Alex (Gabe Nevins). Alex is obsessed with skateboarding and one day he goes to Paranoid Park - which is where some very grungy but but good skateboarders practice their sport. But things get sticky when Alex gets involved with an accidental murder. I won't say more but the film held my interest and is suspenseful. And the cinematography is outstanding. But that is no surprise since the film was shot by master cinematographer Christoper Doyle. I recommend this one to all of you who like small, quirky films about people who seem ordinary but are not.
Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side won this year's Oscar for Best Documentary. It is a film that everyone, especially Americans, should see. The film starts out with the arrest of an Afghani taxi driver named Dilawar. Dilawar is taken to Bagram prison on trumped up charges. He is tortured and five days later he is dead. The film moves onto the infamous prisons Abu Gharyb and Guantanamo. We learn that habeas corpus (or the right to a trial) is dead. Throughout the film there are interviews with a number of soldiers who participated in the torture of prisoners. Even when they are convicted it is for misconduct and never torture. Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and George Dubya Bush all went along with this. But they all deny that the US tortures people. It is proven that if someone is tortured and in enough pain they will confess to anything (I just watched the DVD of the wonderful Goya's Ghosts - my second viewing since I saw it in the theater last summer - and torture is explored in that film). Sadly, there were only two other people in the audience when I saw the film. The United States should be ashamed of itself and Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others (along with Henry Kissinger) should be tried in an international court of law for crimes against humanity. But people in general should also be ashamed because they are not seeing this important film.
Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park is his best film in quite some time. I have not liked his last few films. Gerry is interesting but messy. Elephant was okay but certainly not worthy of winning the top prize in Cannes. And I loathed The Last Days. But I really liked Paranoid Park. Van Sant adapted it from a book by Blake Nelson. It is the story of a young skateboarder named Alex (Gabe Nevins). Alex is obsessed with skateboarding and one day he goes to Paranoid Park - which is where some very grungy but but good skateboarders practice their sport. But things get sticky when Alex gets involved with an accidental murder. I won't say more but the film held my interest and is suspenseful. And the cinematography is outstanding. But that is no surprise since the film was shot by master cinematographer Christoper Doyle. I recommend this one to all of you who like small, quirky films about people who seem ordinary but are not.
posted by Film Fanatic | 8:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home