Sorry, this movie sucks

Simply A Masterpiece

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Umm..How is this propaganda? It even showed American SOLDIERS WHO ARE RESPECTFUL AT Guantanamo bay (not all soldiers were assholes and treated the prisoners like animals) Secondly, this is based on real-life - The film portrays the accounts of Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul (the 'Tipton Three'). This is a very personal story – the story of four pretty ordinary, young Englishmen (of Pakistani background) who were in the were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It puts faces, personalities and stories to the so-called "evil-doers", the "really bad guys", as George W. Bush likes to childishly describe them. In doing so, it exposes the absolutely corrupt lies that we have been fed by our leaders.The four arrived in Pakistan for a wedding, not long after after the events of September 11, 2001. During their visit, they crossed the porous border of Afghanistan. Perhaps it was curiosity, or adventurism (the film doesn't fully explain). Whatever their reasons, the film is ultimately about the inhumanity and injustice that has been meted out while in the custody of US forces.The narrative takes the form of talking heads. Three of the young men (one is missing, presumed dead) speak intermittently as their experiences are re-enacted by non-professional actors in a documentary-like format, based on the accounts of the three. The realism of these segments is gripping, interspersed with Al Jazeera video footage from the time.Trapped in Kunduz province under attack by the Northern Alliance, the three men and other residents scramble onto a truck shared with Taliban fighters evacuating from the town. When this truck is intercepted, the occupants are all taken into custody. Thus begins the arduous road to Guantanamo.In the end, this story is not just about four young men. It is about Mamdouh Habib, David Hicks and a multitude of innocents who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those without western governments to support them still languish under harsh conditions. It is a travesty that the Australian government is the only western government that continues to abandon its responsibilities to its citizens. As the film depicts, contrary to the rule of law, there is a presumption of guilt.For me, the constant inhumane interrogations, solitary confinements and beatings were reminiscent of the 1692 Salem trials depicted in Arthur Miller's parable The Crucible, or the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings (which inspired Miller's work) so artfully and powerfully depicted in George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck. Ironically, they depict the very type of pernicious activities that the US government was claiming to be saving the world from.In the context of current world events, this is an important film. I suspect that it will mostly preach to the converted, but hopefully it will find a wider audience. I found it compelling.

it shows how you can get caught in a situation of terror without expecting it, i enjoyed the film and recommend it to any one that wonders what Guantanamo prison is, the struggle of normal people that get into an-wanted situation and horrific experience of trying to explain your innocence and knowing that no one is interested in that truth. All cast give a good realistic performance, the scenes of prisoners interrogation could be better directed but is not bad enough to spoil the interest and flow of the film. One is amazed how easy it is to go from normal and quite safe life one day and the next you are in hell. the Americans are seen here as the bad guys but the tali bans also have nothing to be proud about their handling of prisoners.

Where do i begin? Three Pakistani descendant Brits go on a trip to Pakistan for a wedding,right? The story, based on true events, takes place a few weeks after September the 11th. Once they get to Pakistan, they decided to travel to Afghanistan,allegedly, to help, here are my questions:Q- Help how?A-They even said they had decided to stayed at the Mosque right after arriving in Pakistan because they couldn't afford the local hotels. How can one help anybody with no money, and no means of transportation? Q: How come they never become friends with anyone in Afghanistan?A- They said they didn't speak the dialect and yet, they were able to make travel arrangements, buy food, and find lodging but, when it came to talking to the actual fighters, well, they didn't understand the dialect,right!Q-: Why do they go to afghanistan during the outbreak of a major international conflict?A- There are very few groups people either naive enough or selfless do-gooders capable of such occurrence, Prists, red cross volunteers, or retards. They were none of the above, this characters, all had criminal records back home.United States was at war during this episode fellas, and I believe most of this people are nothing but gangsters, deserving encasement,and some even torture. American people are the most civilized group of individuals i have ever met,they listen, and more importantly, they respect the right to individuality. This Documentary is nothing but a self promoting biased vehicle for a liberal anti-American filnmaker, having said that, and assuming the innocence of this kids to be true, nothing would have happened to them, had the chosen to stayed home...This film is anti- American garbage! So much, I thought I was watching a war show on AL-Jaazeera television!

Many reviewers have criticized this film for being one sided and told from the perspective of the Tipton Three, but as we are not allowed to see what goes on inside Guantanamo, and the inmates are not charged with any crime or allowed contact with their families or legal counsel (they don't need it as they have not been charged with a crime), we have to go on what accounts have filtered through.A country which asserts itself as the moral compass of the world, and which is based on freedom, liberty and justice for all, has to be held to a higher standard of accountability. Justice for all mean ALL, not those whom we pick and choose. The very fact that detainees are held outside the US without trial, and in conditions which we have seen in pictures of Abu Ghraib indicates that they are not playing by their own rules. Many US ideals have been jettisoned in the name of patriotism, and "If you're not with us, you're with the enemy!" rhetoric.Four young chavs nurtured in the safety and comfort of Britain's welfare state, with its free health care, education and social security for those who don't find work, go off to Pakistan for a wedding, and suffer a little culture shock, not to mention the intestinal distress caused by the food and water in foreign parts. Having been accustomed to cheese stuffed pizza, burgers, supermarkets and shopping malls, they are somewhat shocked to find meat sold in the open with clouds of flies everywhere, and according to one, the food smells like sh*t with spices.While in Pakistan, they decide to check out next door Afghanistan just prior to the US bombing. While this may have been from a sense of youthful adventure, their actions don't bear close scrutiny, whether from naive stupidity or idealism or ulterior motives. They may have been no different from young idealists who went to fight in the Spanish Civil War, young Canadians and Americans who enlisted in the British Forces in WWII, mercenaries anywhere, or naive adventurers caught trying to smuggle drugs through the far east, but once in Afghanistan they quickly find that war is not an adventurous lark after all. They are rounded up by the Northern Alliance after a brutal bombing raid leaves many dead or horribly wounded, and after barely surviving a month in captivity, they are handed over to the US special forces.As this is a British film, the US are depicted as loudmouthed, bullying thugs, without too much brain matter - when one detainee is asked where he comes from and replies Titpon, the interrogator snaps "Wheresat"; regardless, they ship the young men off to Guantanamo Bay prison camp where they brutalize them physically and mentally for two years to try to force the young men to confess what they want them to say - that they are card carrying members of Al Qaeda on first name terms with Osama bin Laden. Considering the mind set of a military which charged the Muslim prison chaplain at Guantanamo with treason for ministering to his flock, I rather suspect that the depiction of the interrogators is not far from the truth. Why the facts of the men's story could not be verified for more than two years is a good question. They were being accused of belonging to Al Qaeda and hobnobbing with Osama Bin Laden in 2000, when they were actually engaging in petty crime in Britain and having to report to the police on a regular basis. In the politically motivated American idea of justice, if you confess to a crime, whether or not you are guilty, you will get off lightly. If you refuse to confess, because you are not guilty perhaps, it will go much harder for you (just watch Court TV) because you have wasted their time? The facts are that a number of detainees being held without trial or any access to legal counsel have committed suicide. We have seen the way prisoners were treated at Abu Ghraib, and newsreel footage of people condemning those who blew the whistle. We have also seen the July 11, 2005 bombings in Britain carried out by young men very similar to the Titpton Three. All the bombers were described as decent young men and boys-next-door types. One of them was even an elementary schoolteacher! I personally feel that the Tipton Three were up to no good and quite possibly were trying to join the fighting in some way or another, but they were not aware of what they were getting into until it was too late to turn back. I kept remembering a comment made to me when Iraq was invaded: If they did not hate us before, they are sure going to hate us now.The location shooting, combined with actual newsreel footage give this film a superb look which make it a great viewing experience, regardless of whether you feel that it is one-sided or unpatriotic. I hope that the film is shown on US TV on a widely seen channel, rather than an obscure channel which only preaches to the converted.