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human rights abuses, and Standard Operating Procedure is a dispiriting and difficult watch. That said, the combination of talking-head interviews and dramatic reconstruction offers a rewarding exposé of what was an incredibly dark moment in the grim aftermath of the war.
Non-western voices? The voice of the Iraqi and Afghani people
has been quite lost in the growth of the films and television dramatisations from the US and the UK, but two standout films, very much in the neo-realist tradition give a sense of the war in both countries. Turtles Can Fly (Ghobadi, 2004) is as far away from Hollywood as is possible. It focuses on a group of orphaned Kurdish children living near the Turkish border during the lead- up to and first days of the American invasion. Their desolate life is at the core of the narrative, as they earn a pittance for finding landmines. In many respects the film avoids the more liberal, anti-war approach of many of the films discussed in this article, by actually giving some sense of the horror of Saddam Hussain’s long reign. Stray Dogs (Meshkini, 2004) also has children at the forefront of the narrative as a brother and sister try to reunite with their mother who has been imprisoned by the Afghani authorities. It shows a country in total disarray, still under the fear of constant attack from all sides. But crucially much like Turtles Can Fly, it also highlights young children scarred by war with a hopeless future. All these films share a desperately downbeat
outlook, but one which is strangely refreshing in the light of many previous mainstream war texts. The clear, shared message of all these films/ television series is that these appalling conflicts have no simplistic easy closure, as lines of hearses containing British servicemen continue to pass solemnly through quiet English towns.
John Fitzgerald teaches Film and Media Studies at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth College, Leicester, and is an examiner for Film Studies.
man’s job. They are scared and clearly unaware of what they are doing. Like Occupation, The Mark of Cain pulls no punches in its climatic scenes. There is a clear avoidance of a rounded, easy resolution.
Other perspectives, other
approaches There are other moving media texts that also
provide a great deal of scope for analysis. Taxi To The Dark Side (Gibney, 2007) and Standard Operating Procedure (Morris, 2008) are two stark, angry documentaries which like The Mark of Cain explore the torture and murder of prisoners. Gibney’s film takes as its starting point the death of an Afghan taxi-driver Dilawar, inflicted at Bagram Air Base. Gibney broadens the issue by encompassing various allegations of human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay. The film uses a variety of narrative methods including many interviews with soldiers, ex-government officials and the families of incarcerated men. There is also evidence of a leaked report which outlines a military investigation into two deaths at Bagram. Gibney’s film is not just about the
inhuman interrogation techniques favoured by American forces, but also about the web of silence that surrounds these highly illegal activities. But the essence of the Taxi To The Dark Side is to provoke a reaction, especially against the men in power, and in particular Vice-President Dick Cheney, who through their words and actions gave carte-blanche to what happened in the darkened cells of US military prisoners. Standard Operating Procedure looks at
the scandal surrounding the infamous digital photographs showing US soldiers posing for pictures while they dehumanised and tormented Iraqi prisoners. The images were soon spread around the world, and became the subject of almost universal revulsion. The still images are incredibly shocking and this is enhanced greatly in Morris’ film. The soldier who stood out was a young female recruit, Lynndie England, who from her interview in the documentary seems pretty unashamed of her actions. The conspiracy of silence, of commanding officers issuing unofficial orders to largely uneducated subordinates to do what they want with prisoners is central to the film. Couple this with the Americans sinking to the awful depths of Saddam’s regime of
english and media centre | December 2009 | MediaMagazine 23
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