courtesy of think Film Company

Other articles by Phil Villarreal:

Memories haunt son who sees himself in his dying father Southern-style barbecue restaurant brings big portions, great sauces to Tucson Upstairs upgradedPhil's picksAsk Phil'Kit Kittredge' is a joyous family filmSmith's signature blockbuster 'Promotion' not worth fighting for Pixar's 'Wall-e' All the lonely people really lose it in this wretched flick

Administrative & Professional
Tucson Symphony
Teleservices Sales/Courtesy Rep Trades/Construction
Paragon Electric
Electricians Trades/Construction
Jacobs Electric
Electricians & Helpers Production and Manufacturing
Pioneer Landscaping
Crushing Crew Health Care
FRONT OFFICE Trades/Construction
Pioneer Landscaping
Yard Person/Loader Operator General
Prestige maintenance USA
Custodian

A brutal, uncompromising exposé on sadistic American interrogation practices in the war on terror, the best-documentary Oscar winner "Taxi to the Dark Side" is tough to watch.

Showing none of the restraint for gory detail that network news displayed when the stories broke, Alex Gibney ("Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room") directs and narrates a dry but meticulously researched study of American cruelty and dishonesty. Gibney includes disturbing photos of nude, battered corpses and interviews with convicted interrogators bitter that they took the fall for their commanders.

Gibney chronicles the New York Times investigation into the military's torture practices. Officials deflected accusations and then, when the accusations could no longer be denied due to photographic evidence, pinned most of the blame on those at lower levels, diverting the blame from high command.

The film proves, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Americans have tortured captors in myriad ways, including sexual degradation, water boarding, sleep and sensory deprivation and chaining men to ceilings. The inhumane treatment was eerily similar at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.

Even if you believe that terrorists deserve whatever comes to them, the problem — well-validated by mounds of evidence — is that innocents have been caught in the net.

The film's title is based on the plight of Dilawar, a probably harmless Afghani taxi cab driver who, along with three fares, was captured and locked away by American forces in late 2002. He died after a few days, his legs beaten into mush.

Although the documentary is solid, it doesn't take long before its finger-wagging seems as ineffective as the interrogation techniques it decries. Past the illuminating first half-hour, all the piling on does little to further shock or disgust you, and the movie contains few revelations that weren't made public months or years ago.

Gibney might have added more punch by beefing up a political angle he only brushes upon: that the Bush administration saw the backlash coming and made moves to protect itself from legal ramifications of the methods it may have secretly advocated.

There seems to be far more shrouded in darkness than Gibney's flashlight reveals.