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Taxi to the Dark Side
Universal acclaim
Based on 25 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 16 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by: Alex Gibney
Directed by: Alex Gibney
Release Date:
Theatrical: January 18, 2008
DVD: September 30, 2008
Running Time: 106 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for disturbing images and content involving torture and graphic nudity
Taxi to the Darkside, the latest prize-winning documentary from Oscar-nominee Alex Gibney, confirms his standing as one of the foremost non-fiction filmmakers working today. A stunning inquiry into the suspicious death of an Afghani taxi driver at Bagram air base in 2002, the film is a fastidiously assembled, uncommonly well-researched examination of how an innocent civilian was apprehended, imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately murdered by the greatest democracy on earth. Intermingling documents and records of the incident with candid testimony from eyewitnesses and participants, the film uncovers an inescapable link between the tragic incidents that unfolded in Bagram and the policies made at the very highest level of the United States government in Washington, D.C. Combining the cool detachment of a forensic expert with the heated indignation of a proud American who holds his country to a high standard, Gibney’s film reveals how the Bush administration has systematically betrayed the very ideals it professes to uphold. (THINKFilm)
Also On Metacritic
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This movie does not describe the America I learned about in civics class, or think of when I pledge allegiance to the flag. Yet I know I will get the usual e-mails accusing me of partisanship, bias, only telling one side, etc. What is the other side? See this movie, and you tell me.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
It is, at once, among the most riveting and hard-to-watch documentaries of recent years.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Where "No End" is cool and measured, Taxi is hot, anguished, and sometimes as difficult to watch as pictures of torture ought to be.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
As numbing as the drumbeat of downbeat documentaries can be, as hard as it is to even be shocked at the depravities committed in our name, a film like this remains important, both as an indictment of the present day and as a warning to future generations that the ends don't always justify the means.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Matthew Sorrento
"Taxi” captures the evil that many men do under the guise of American justice. Just as Bardem's menacing Chigurh approaches his targets in "No Country," American military administrators approached Afghan detainees with shackles and convoluted policy in their pockets.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The film quickly becomes one of the most powerful, carefully researched investigations of the moral-legal side effects of current American military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's terrifying in a way that sneaks up on you.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
What one interviewee calls a "fog of ambiguity" surrounding what was and wasn't officially authorized shielded superior officers and key members of the Department of Defense -- namely Donald Rumsfeld.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Gibney also made the Oscar-nominated "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," and he gets remarkable access to people you wouldn't expect to talk to him (including U.S. interrogators charged with crimes at Bagram).
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
It’s the equal of "No End in Sight" in its tight focus on the nuts and bolts of incompetence, and it surpasses any recent melodrama in the empathy it evokes for both its victims and--surprisingly--victimizers.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Along with “No End in Sight,” this movie is one of the essential documentaries of the ongoing war.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
Journeys into a new heart of darkness, the destination of which lies outside the frontiers of humanity.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Alex Gibney's forceful documentary starts with a single tragedy: the torture of an Afghani prisoner at Bagram Air Base. By the time it's over, he's broadened his focus into a documentary so damning of the U.S. government, it's hard to believe he even got it made.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Tasha Robinson
An invaluable document, both for its hard questions and for the sickeningly unflinching interviews that provide the answers.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
As viewers of his Enron film will testify, Gibney is a scrupulous director, and Taxi to the Dark Side is filled with detailed factual information.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Nick Pinkerton
Taxi is an impressively blueprinted work. Still images--from autopsy tables, makeshift holding cells, the Oval Office--are selected and deployed to maximum effect.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Taxi to the Dark Side adds something new to our awareness -- interviews with soldiers who served as interrogators in Afghanistan, and in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, and who, in some cases that ended in courts martial, served prison terms themselves.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Stephen Farber
In the end, this passionate indictment of present U.S. policies stirs both sadness and outrage.
Read Full Review >Variety Jay Weissberg
Photos and video of torture at Bagram and Abu Ghraib are the most viscerally disturbing elements of Taxi to the Dark Side, but the way soft-spoken soldiers were transformed into beasts with the tacit approval of the higher-ups is just as profoundly chilling.
Read Full Review >Washington Post John Anderson
Although it's tempting to call Gibney's documentary "the one Iraq film you MUST see this season!!!" (which, by the way, it is), it's not just about Iraq. It's about torture as policy.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Anthony S gave it a10:
This is an incredibly moving documentary. At one point I burst into tears out of shame for my country and sadness for Delawar's death. I would force every supporter of torture to see this film before they attempt to justify such inhumanity.
Branden R gave it a9:
I saw this film after a podcast I listen to, Cinebanter, mentioned it. I caught this on HBO. This movie is tough to watch. It makes you ashamed of your own government. I had to take a short break from the disturbing images in this doc.
Jay H gave it a9:
Bush is such a lying scumbag. How can America allow him to stay in office? How could so many people be so stupid to vote for him? Moving, infuriating documentary, superbly pieced together and well researched. Amazing.
Jared C gave it a0:
Rated R for disturbing crappy images and content involving torturous scenes and graphically boring elements.
Agatha X gave it a10:
I did not want to go see this movie, and in truth I spent substantial amounts of time with my eyes hidden. But everyone needs to see this documentary, for the only thing it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. It was an exquisite and deeply patriotic movie. A call to action.
Peter K gave it a10:
An invaluable film that documents the flat-out lies and public deceits that the Bush regime (military, White House, and CIA) has used to subvert the fundamentals of the American institution of democracy and over 700 years of English law in its monomaniacal pursuit of "the bad guys." A small and otherwise unextraordinary taxi driver becomes the focus of an investigation that ultimately uncovers the truth about torture and the Bush regime's need to find scapegoats for 911. The scope of this documentary includes Afghanistan, Iraq, Washington DC and Guantanamo. This truly is a Must-See film, even if it is a documentary. Be ready for disturbing images that include nudity and torture. People, this is about what OUR government has been doing in the name of democracy.
Dave gave it a10:
Great film, can't really say I'm surprised by what was presented in the film. Roger Ebert really hit the nail on the head. January 2009 can't get here soon enough and we can finally be rid of this corrupt administration!
