On January 31, 1848, an employee at John Sutter´s mill discovered gold, sending thousands of ambitious fortune seekers rushing west to stake their claim. On March 20, 2003, President George W. Bush officially announced the beginning of the Iraq War, sending (seemingly) thousands of ambitious documentary filmmakers scurrying to stake their own claim on the cinematic gold of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Most gold seekers found only dirt and broken dreams; most Iraq War documentarians managed to find something; the problem is that many of them found the same thing, all at the same time.
Swedish filmmakers Eric Gandini and Tarik Saleh filmed for three years (late 2002-2005), focusing their attention on the now-infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, better known (in military parlance as well as in the media) as Gitmo. The film, narrated by Gandini, starts with an interesting bit of information I did not know. Apparently, anyone with media credentials can simply call a number setup by the U.S. military to schedule a visit to Gitmo. You get free flights from Puerto Rico, but you have to pay $12 a night for lodging. Not a bad deal. As part of the package, you get a free tour of Gitmo and an all-access pass to talk to the prisoners. Well, OK, not exactly an "all-access" pass; in fact, more like a "don´t even think about going past the point where we´ve carefully orchestrated our media presentation" pass. And don´t even think about using any Michael Moore hidden camera tricks; as Gandini wryly notes "That´s just not gonna happen."
It´s an amusing start, but also defines the limitations of the documentary. Gandini and Saleh simply can´t get close enough to get much information. They focus partly on Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali who is held at Gitmo (without charges, of course) for over a year, but are stifled in their efforts to get information from him, more from Mehdi´s reticence than any military coverup. The rest of the documentary ambles abut, lazily chronicling Gandini´s efforts to contact military officials regarding various irregularities at Gitmo. The doc abruptly shifts focus from prisoner abuse to some of the odd hirings and firings of military personnel at the naval base. Few people are willing to talk, except the always loquacious Janice Karpinsky, better known for being in charge at Abu Ghraib when the soldiers started taking those holiday pics.
Gandini searches for logical answers as to why particular people are being held prisoner, or rather as "unlawful combatants," at Gitmo, but he forgets that the administration doesn´t adhere to a reality-based view of geopolitics. When you make up your own facts, the answers are easy. Rumsfeld doesn´t know who the prisoners are, but he knows for sure that: "These guys aren´t common car thieves." For Dubyah, it´s even clearer cut: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people." They probably never even read "My Pet Goat."
"Gitmo" is a victim of bad timing more than anything else. Much of the information Gandini and Saleh uncover is pretty potent; unfortunately by the time the film was released in 2005, it was also pretty widely known. Still, it´s nice to have an easily-accessible record of Donald Rumsfeld´s true sickness. When asked to review a series of "torture protocols" Rumsfeld only question the one in which prisoners would be forced to stand for 4 hours at a time. His complaint, scrawled in the margins: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day? Why limit standing time to just 4 hours?" Some of the shots of smiling US military "tour guides" at Gitmo are surreal as they tell visitors about the iguanas and golf courses.
The film uses some cheap editing techniques designed to make people look foolish, hardly necessary considering how outrageous the Gitmo scenario really is. But I´ve been told by my Norwegian friends that Swedes have a strange sense of humor.
Swedish filmmakers Eric Gandini and Tarik Saleh filmed for three years (late 2002-2005), focusing their attention on the now-infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, better known (in military parlance as well as in the media) as Gitmo. The film, narrated by Gandini, starts with an interesting bit of information I did not know. Apparently, anyone with media credentials can simply call a number setup by the U.S. military to schedule a visit to Gitmo. You get free flights from Puerto Rico, but you have to pay $12 a night for lodging. Not a bad deal. As part of the package, you get a free tour of Gitmo and an all-access pass to talk to the prisoners. Well, OK, not exactly an "all-access" pass; in fact, more like a "don´t even think about going past the point where we´ve carefully orchestrated our media presentation" pass. And don´t even think about using any Michael Moore hidden camera tricks; as Gandini wryly notes "That´s just not gonna happen."
It´s an amusing start, but also defines the limitations of the documentary. Gandini and Saleh simply can´t get close enough to get much information. They focus partly on Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali who is held at Gitmo (without charges, of course) for over a year, but are stifled in their efforts to get information from him, more from Mehdi´s reticence than any military coverup. The rest of the documentary ambles abut, lazily chronicling Gandini´s efforts to contact military officials regarding various irregularities at Gitmo. The doc abruptly shifts focus from prisoner abuse to some of the odd hirings and firings of military personnel at the naval base. Few people are willing to talk, except the always loquacious Janice Karpinsky, better known for being in charge at Abu Ghraib when the soldiers started taking those holiday pics.
Gandini searches for logical answers as to why particular people are being held prisoner, or rather as "unlawful combatants," at Gitmo, but he forgets that the administration doesn´t adhere to a reality-based view of geopolitics. When you make up your own facts, the answers are easy. Rumsfeld doesn´t know who the prisoners are, but he knows for sure that: "These guys aren´t common car thieves." For Dubyah, it´s even clearer cut: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people." They probably never even read "My Pet Goat."
"Gitmo" is a victim of bad timing more than anything else. Much of the information Gandini and Saleh uncover is pretty potent; unfortunately by the time the film was released in 2005, it was also pretty widely known. Still, it´s nice to have an easily-accessible record of Donald Rumsfeld´s true sickness. When asked to review a series of "torture protocols" Rumsfeld only question the one in which prisoners would be forced to stand for 4 hours at a time. His complaint, scrawled in the margins: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day? Why limit standing time to just 4 hours?" Some of the shots of smiling US military "tour guides" at Gitmo are surreal as they tell visitors about the iguanas and golf courses.
The film uses some cheap editing techniques designed to make people look foolish, hardly necessary considering how outrageous the Gitmo scenario really is. But I´ve been told by my Norwegian friends that Swedes have a strange sense of humor.
On January 31, 1848, an employee at John Sutter´s mill discovered gold, sending thousands of ambitious fortune seekers rushing west to stake their claim. On March 20, 2003, President George W. Bush officially announced the beginning of the Iraq War, sending (seemingly) thousands of ambitious documentary filmmakers scurrying to stake their own claim on the cinematic gold of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Most gold seekers found only dirt and broken dreams; most Iraq War documentarians managed to find something; the problem is that many of them found the same thing, all at the same time.
Swedish filmmakers Eric Gandini and Tarik Saleh filmed for three years (late 2002-2005), focusing their attention on the now-infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, better known (in military parlance as well as in the media) as Gitmo. The film, narrated by Gandini, starts with an interesting bit of information I did not know. Apparently, anyone with media credentials can simply call a number setup by the U.S. military to schedule a visit to Gitmo. You get free flights from Puerto Rico, but you have to pay $12 a night for lodging. Not a bad deal. As part of the package, you get a free tour of Gitmo and an all-access pass to talk to the prisoners. Well, OK, not exactly an "all-access" pass; in fact, more like a "don´t even think about going past the point where we´ve carefully orchestrated our media presentation" pass. And don´t even think about using any Michael Moore hidden camera tricks; as Gandini wryly notes "That´s just not gonna happen."
It´s an amusing start, but also defines the limitations of the documentary. Gandini and Saleh simply can´t get close enough to get much information. They focus partly on Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali who is held at Gitmo (without charges, of course) for over a year, but are stifled in their efforts to get information from him, more from Mehdi´s reticence than any military coverup. The rest of the documentary ambles abut, lazily chronicling Gandini´s efforts to contact military officials regarding various irregularities at Gitmo. The doc abruptly shifts focus from prisoner abuse to some of the odd hirings and firings of military personnel at the naval base. Few people are willing to talk, except the always loquacious Janice Karpinsky, better known for being in charge at Abu Ghraib when the soldiers started taking those holiday pics.
Gandini searches for logical answers as to why particular people are being held prisoner, or rather as "unlawful combatants," at Gitmo, but he forgets that the administration doesn´t adhere to a reality-based view of geopolitics. When you make up your own facts, the answers are easy. Rumsfeld doesn´t know who the prisoners are, but he knows for sure that: "These guys aren´t common car thieves." For Dubyah, it´s even clearer cut: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people." They probably never even read "My Pet Goat."
"Gitmo" is a victim of bad timing more than anything else. Much of the information Gandini and Saleh uncover is pretty potent; unfortunately by the time the film was released in 2005, it was also pretty widely known. Still, it´s nice to have an easily-accessible record of Donald Rumsfeld´s true sickness. When asked to review a series of "torture protocols" Rumsfeld only question the one in which prisoners would be forced to stand for 4 hours at a time. His complaint, scrawled in the margins: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day? Why limit standing time to just 4 hours?" Some of the shots of smiling US military "tour guides" at Gitmo are surreal as they tell visitors about the iguanas and golf courses.
The film uses some cheap editing techniques designed to make people look foolish, hardly necessary considering how outrageous the Gitmo scenario really is. But I´ve been told by my Norwegian friends that Swedes have a strange sense of humor.
Swedish filmmakers Eric Gandini and Tarik Saleh filmed for three years (late 2002-2005), focusing their attention on the now-infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, better known (in military parlance as well as in the media) as Gitmo. The film, narrated by Gandini, starts with an interesting bit of information I did not know. Apparently, anyone with media credentials can simply call a number setup by the U.S. military to schedule a visit to Gitmo. You get free flights from Puerto Rico, but you have to pay $12 a night for lodging. Not a bad deal. As part of the package, you get a free tour of Gitmo and an all-access pass to talk to the prisoners. Well, OK, not exactly an "all-access" pass; in fact, more like a "don´t even think about going past the point where we´ve carefully orchestrated our media presentation" pass. And don´t even think about using any Michael Moore hidden camera tricks; as Gandini wryly notes "That´s just not gonna happen."
It´s an amusing start, but also defines the limitations of the documentary. Gandini and Saleh simply can´t get close enough to get much information. They focus partly on Swedish citizen Mehdi Ghezali who is held at Gitmo (without charges, of course) for over a year, but are stifled in their efforts to get information from him, more from Mehdi´s reticence than any military coverup. The rest of the documentary ambles abut, lazily chronicling Gandini´s efforts to contact military officials regarding various irregularities at Gitmo. The doc abruptly shifts focus from prisoner abuse to some of the odd hirings and firings of military personnel at the naval base. Few people are willing to talk, except the always loquacious Janice Karpinsky, better known for being in charge at Abu Ghraib when the soldiers started taking those holiday pics.
Gandini searches for logical answers as to why particular people are being held prisoner, or rather as "unlawful combatants," at Gitmo, but he forgets that the administration doesn´t adhere to a reality-based view of geopolitics. When you make up your own facts, the answers are easy. Rumsfeld doesn´t know who the prisoners are, but he knows for sure that: "These guys aren´t common car thieves." For Dubyah, it´s even clearer cut: "The only thing I know for certain is that these are bad people." They probably never even read "My Pet Goat."
"Gitmo" is a victim of bad timing more than anything else. Much of the information Gandini and Saleh uncover is pretty potent; unfortunately by the time the film was released in 2005, it was also pretty widely known. Still, it´s nice to have an easily-accessible record of Donald Rumsfeld´s true sickness. When asked to review a series of "torture protocols" Rumsfeld only question the one in which prisoners would be forced to stand for 4 hours at a time. His complaint, scrawled in the margins: "I stand for 8-10 hours a day? Why limit standing time to just 4 hours?" Some of the shots of smiling US military "tour guides" at Gitmo are surreal as they tell visitors about the iguanas and golf courses.
The film uses some cheap editing techniques designed to make people look foolish, hardly necessary considering how outrageous the Gitmo scenario really is. But I´ve been told by my Norwegian friends that Swedes have a strange sense of humor.
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