Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)
95%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
11 wins & 4 nominations total
Taxi to the Dark Side is an intelligent, powerful look into the dark corners of the War on Terror.
Taxi to the Dark Side is a documentary that will leave you feeling like you just got punched in the gut. But in a good way? I mean, it’s not like you’ll be happy about the subject matter, but you’ll be glad you watched it. It’s like taking your medicine, but instead of getting better, you just get really angry at the government. So, if you’re in the mood for some clear-eyed rage, give this one a watch. Just maybe have some ice cream on hand for afterwards.
Production Company(ies)
Discovery Channel, Jigsaw Productions, Tall Woods
Distributor
ThinkFilm
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Yakubi, Afghanistan
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for disturbing images, and content involving torture and graphic nudity
Year of Release
2009
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 46m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Jan 18, 2008 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 30, 2008
Genre(s)
Documentary/War
Keyword(s)
Taxi to the Dark Side, documentary, war, torture, American military, Bagram Force Air Base, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, Bush administration, R rating, English language, directed by Alex Gibney, produced by Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman, Alex Gibney, written by Alex Gibney, narrated by Alex Gibney, reviewed by Caryn James, Ben Kenigsberg, J.R Jones, Peter Bradshaw, Marc Savlov, Will Lawrence, Mattie Lucas, Dorothy Woodend, Kelly Vance, Nick Rogers, Jennifer Merin, Alec B, John B, Sarah P, Walter M, 100% Tomatometer, 93 reviews, 90% audience score, $274.7K box office gross USA, Brian Keith Allen, Jack Cloonan, Greg D’Agostino, Carl Levin, Moazzam Begg
Worldwide gross: $294,309
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $406,768
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,791
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 44,359
US/Canada gross: $274,661
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $379,612
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,398
US/Canada opening weekend: $10,930
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $15,106
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,600
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $1,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $1,382,111
Production budget ranking: 2,061
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $744,267
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$1,719,610
ROI to date (est.): -81%
ROI ranking: 1,890
Brian Keith Allen –
Jack Cloonan –
Greg D’Agostino –
Carl Levin –
Moazzam Begg –
Director(s)
Alex Gibney
Writer(s)
Alex Gibney
Producer(s)
Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman, Alex Gibney
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
11 wins & 4 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (93) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (93)
Gracefully weaving together interviews (some with the soldiers convicted of the beating), fresh images and official photographs, it suggests why so many politically themed fiction films have failed.
November 30, 2017
Caryn James
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
November 18, 2011 | Rating: 4/5
Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Like the Iraq war documentary No End in Sight, this movie about the U.S. military’s systematic torture of terror suspects is a triumph not of reporting but of synthesis.
August 29, 2011
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Alex Gibney won best documentary Oscar for this gruelling, angry movie.
October 18, 2008 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Impossible to shake off.
October 18, 2008 | Rating: 3.5/5
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
An unflinching documentary that exposes one of the darkest chapters in American history.
October 18, 2008 | Rating: 5/5
Will Lawrence
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Gibney approaches his subject in a clear-eyed way that keeps the film from becoming a political screed.
July 6, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
Taxi to the Dark Side. . .examines the war in Iraq with clear-eyed rage.
August 23, 2017
Dorothy Woodend
The Tyee (British Columbia)
Filmmaker Gibney, whose involvement with anti-establishment exposés could conceivably mark him for his own eventual rendition by the forces of freedom, carefully guides us up the chain of command to the policy level.
April 28, 2011
Kelly Vance
East Bay Express
Consciously depressing, draining and damning. A dizzying, disorienting tone befits indictments against vulgarly abused power, and Gibney avoids judging soldiers already punished in accordance with a system of blame shamefully traveling down, never up.
October 22, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Nick Rogers
The Film Yap
A shocking expose about the American military’s use of torture to get confessions–not always truthful ones–from prisoners suspected of terrorism. This is the kind of film that can make a difference!
May 26, 2009 | Rating: 5/5
Jennifer Merin
About.com
[An] assiduously investigated, brilliantly argued documentary.
April 23, 2009
Gerald Peary
Boston Phoenix…
Plot
Using the torture and death in 2002 of an innocent Afghan taxi driver as the touchstone, this film examines changes after 9/11 in U.S. policy toward suspects in the war on terror. Soldiers, their attorneys, one released detainee, U.S. Attorney John Yoo, news footage and photos tell a story of abuse at Bagram Air Base, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay. From Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Gonzalez came unwritten orders to use any means necessary. The CIA and soldiers with little training used sleep deprivation, sexual assault, stress positions, waterboarding, dogs and other terror tactics to seek information from detainees. Many speakers lament the loss of American ideals in pursuit of security.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The documentary is narrated by Alex Gibney.
Alex-Gibney.jpg
