Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Rank
Top 20% of all time (see others with this rank)
Festival Year
2007 (click here to see all competition films from this year)
Category
Documentary Competition
Non-Cast Credits
Jack Youngelson, Sheila Nevins, Diana Barrett, Rory Kennedy, Liz Garbus, Jack Youngelson, Nancy Abraham, Tom Hurwitz, Sari Gilman
Description
Wielding startlingly candid interviews with perpetrators, witnesses, and victims, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib provides an inside look at the abuses that occurred at the Iraqi prison in the fall of 2003. Award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy explores how, given the right circumstances, typical boys and girls next door can commit atrocious acts of violence.
Wielding startlingly candid interviews with perpetrators, witnesses, and victims, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib provides an inside look at the abuses that occurred at the Iraqi prison in the fall of 2003. Award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy explores how, given the right circumstances, typical boys and girls next door can commit atrocious acts of violence.
The now-infamous photos that emerged from Abu Ghraib represent only the tip of the iceberg, pointing to systemic abuse from Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan and beyond. These photos have come to redefine the United States--once considered a bastion of human rights--as a principal proponent of torture. Have we blurred the distinction between ourselves and terrorists in ways that will haunt our country throughout history? Powerful, restrained, and fiercely compelling, Ghosts of Abu Ghraib demands that we examine our conscience as a nation.
Reviewer
David Courier (see other films reviewed by the same reviewer)