The Road To Guantanamo DVD Review

The Road to Guantanamo is the true story of four friends who were in the worst place at a worse time. These young British Muslim men fly into Pakistan for a wedding just days after the 9/11 attacks, and from there they decide to check out Afghanistan. This simple yet disasterous decision is not simple to fix because each time they try to leave the country they end up closer to fighting. Any vehicle willing to take them takes them to war until they are taken as prisoners. Once the Americans discover them they are suspected of being Al-Qaeda because of the fact that they speak English. Soon they find themselves held as prisoners of war in Guantanamo Bay.

Although most of the footage is a recreation of the events while they tell their story, the film is filled with strong imagery. There is a simple elegance and beauty in the cinematography but everything is so simply done to look as though it is the actual documentary footage so each amazing moment caught on camera feels sincere and real to the point where I began to feel as though I was intruding. The acting is a great deal of help in keeping the illusion because they are so simple and natural that it doesn’t feel as though they are acting.

The physical treatment of prisoners is miserable regardless of who the detainees are, but it is especially condemning of the American soldiers. As one of the young men says of his knowledge of America, you expect that once they are in the hands of Americans things will be alright, but this is hardly the case. If there is any overacting in the film it comes from the first interrogation imposed on them, but the idea still comes across fine and it is a shameful sight for humanity and Americans. More than anything else it simply speaks to the horrors of war, regardless of how “civilized” the countries involved may be. What is most apparent is that soldiers will do whatever their orders are to do, and if the order is to find members of the Al-Qaeda…

This film has everything required for a great film. The soundtrack is emotively poured over some wonderful cinematography and one of the most compelling true stories to be told in quite a while. The Road to Guantanamo won a well deserved award for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival this year, and I would certainly go so far as to say that this is the best documentary I have seen all year. This being said I am appalled at the fact that there are no special features. I would understand if the young men would like to leave all of this behind them, including the film, but directors Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross could have done a commentary track in the very least. A great film like this leaves audiences begging for more, and the DVD is a perfect technological invention to provide that.