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)

Deconstructing Sundance | Abusing Statistics Since 2006