| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | THE ROAD TO GUANTÁNAMO (2006) |
| Director | Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross |
| Writer | Michael Winterbottom, Mat Whitecross |
| Lead Actors | Riz Ahmed, Farhad Harun, Waqar Siddiqui |
| Cast | Riz Ahmed, Farhad Harun, Waqar Siddiqui, Arfan Usman, Mark Holden, Jacob Gaffney |
| Genre | Documentary, Drama, War |
| Release Date | February 23, 2006 (Germany) / March 9, 2006 (United Kingdom) |
| Duration | 1h 35m (95 min) |
| Budget | Approx. $2 million |
| Language | English, Urdu, Arabic |
| IMDb Rating | 7.4/10 |
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This docudrama focuses on Asif Iqbal, a British citizen of Pakistani parentage, who went to Pakistan to find a bride a few days after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He invited Ruhal Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul, two of his friends from Tipton, to come to his wedding.
Although these naïve young men were not political or radical, they joined a large group of men who plan to help their brothers in Afghanistan when the U.S. offensive began.
When the U.S. started paying $5,000 for each foreigner turned in to American forces, these young men were rounded up by the Northern Alliance. A couple of months later, they were incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay.
Dubbed the “Tipton Three” by the British press, they were released in 2004. Filmmaker Michael Winterbottom approached the trio, about making a film after reading news accounts about their torture while in U.S. custody. Co-director Mat Whitecross spent a month with them, recording hundreds of pages of their transcribed testimony.
The result is a drama with documentary elements. The Tipton Three talk about their experiences throughout the film while actors portray them in dramatic episodes.
“Stress positions,” said Jumana Musa of Amnesty International at a screening in Los Angeles, “loud noise, strobe lights and isolation may seem innocuous, but taken together they mean torture to the rest of the world.” She also said, “There are bad guys at Guantanamo, but there’s no excuse for throwing out the rule book.” A gritty and timely film worth watching but not always easy to follow because of the handheld camera and the recreated chaotic situations will cause the thoughtful viewer to reflect, question, dialogue and ponder a Christian response.
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