Interview. Alex Gibney.

"Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side is the documentary that many of us have prayed for, the one that could break through even to people who relish the torture set pieces on 24 and will hear no evil about the War on Terror," writes David Edelstein in New York. "It's the equal of No End in Sight [which Gibney produced] in its tight focus on the nuts and bolts of incompetence, and it surpasses any recent melodrama in the empathy it evokes for both its victims and - surprisingly - victimizers. More important, it leaves you brooding on the human capacity for cruelty in a way that transcends the gory details."

At the main site, Hannah Eaves talks with Gibney about his previous work (The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) and about the ways the US might regain the moral high ground. Gibney's Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompson premieres at Sundance on Sunday.

Updated through 1/19.

More interviews: James Rocchi at Cinematical and Scott Macaulay in Filmmaker.

Update, 1/15: "Gibney's experts answer the central question - 'Does torture ever work?' - with something close to a pat 'No,' but maybe Taxi has to cut messy issues clean, so they'll fit as building blocks in its splendid polemic architecture," suggests Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. "When you step back, it is something to admire: Without cheapening the suffering of American or Afghan, the film retrieves the torture issue from the realm of the abstract and gives the plain facts of this world right now. As long as we still care about people and power, they will matter."

Updates, 1/16: S James Snyder in the New York Sun: "Nearly a year ago, when Taxi to the Dark Side first devastated audiences at the Tribeca Film Festival, director Alex Gibney expressed a simple aspiration when speaking to one downtown festival audience: 'I hope it provokes some rage.' Well, to borrow a quote from his less-than-favorite politician: Mr Gibney, "mission accomplished.'"

"I hope that every concerned moviegoer sees this film, but I doubt that many will," writes Andrew Sarris in the New York Observer.

Update, 1/17: "94 percent of the prisoners in Bagram are arrested by Afghan militiamen, who work for cash bribes and petty vendettas," notes the Reeler. "It's a circle of death and treachery that spans the globe and depends on the darkest stretches of human nature to be complete; Gibney's tracking of this country's part in that circle - our recent moral hairpin curve - shows how quickly and how completely we can forfeit what makes us good, as people and as a people." , a talk with Gibney.

Updates, 1/18: "A year from now, the presidency of George W Bush will end, but the consequences of Mr Bush's policies and the arguments about them are likely to be with us for a long time," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "As next Jan 20 draws near, there is an evident temptation, among many journalists as well as politicians seeking to replace Mr Bush, to close the book and move ahead, an impulse that makes the existence of documentaries like Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side all the more vital. If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential."

"What is really appalling is how readily torture was embraced by officials as an absolute necessity and how easy it was for soldiers to, in the words of one, 'lose your moral bearings' and become a party to atrocity," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. "For though the official line out of Washington is still 'we do not torture,' it's impossible to watch this film - and hear testimony not just from soldiers but also veteran FBI men and former Bush administration officials - without coming to understand that torture is exactly what we are engaged in."

Online listening tip. Salon's Andrew O'Hehir talks with Gibney.

"Gibney's film isn't merely an anti-torture polemic: it goes beyond partisan politics and asks whether the American character has been irreparably sullied by thuggish terrorist-fighting tactics," writes Kenji Fujishima at the House Next Door. "Taxi to the Dark Side also marks a step up for Gibney as a filmmaker - particularly in its argumentation."

"Gibney knows what constitutes torture, and he makes it abundantly clear in Taxi to the Dark Side, which uses as its springboard the true story of Dilawar, a 22-year-old Afghani cab driver who was murdered by his American captors in a Bagram prison, his death occurring after extended, painful bouts of psychological and physical torment," writes Michael Koresky at indieWIRE. "One could argue that with such morally righteous subject matter Gibney's got a relatively easy game ahead of him (who, outside of war hawks unlikely to find themselves within fifty feet of an art-house theater, would deny the argument for human rights?), so it's to his credit that he mounts a compelling narrative, structuring his film in a riveting hide-and-reveal manner."

Update, 1/19: James Hughes talks with Gibney for Stop Smiling.

Posted by dwhudson at January 14, 2008 9:53 AM