Friday, February 22, 2008

Must Watch

The latest diavlog on BloggingHeads.tv is something every American should watch. It's an interview of Alex Gibney by film critic David Edelstein. Gibney's film, Taxi to the Dark Side, has been nominated for an Oscar, as you may or may not know. It's a documentary that looks at the culture of torture created by the Bush Administration after 9/11.

Maybe you've decided not to see Taxi to the Dark Side, for whatever reason. I know that despite my early sympathy for the film, I have put off seeing it, figuring it would just be more preaching to my choir. After watching the diavlog, both Gibney's matter-of-fact reporting and Edelstein's obvious positive reaction to having seen the film have compelled me to change my mind.

Streaming video, and downloadable video and audio of the interview, all available here. Running time about 48 minutes. Please give this one a shot. And then go see the movie, if you think you'll be able to bear it.

[Added] If you're viewing just this individual post, have a look at my next one, too, please.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course I agree that it should be watched. I have to admit that there is a certain side of me that wearies a little of the preaching to the choir hatred of Bush/Cheney (especially becasue I think there is a tendency to focus blame for larger societal issues on a few people and pretend that once they are gone we won't have to deal with these issues anymore. It's kinda like the same 'few bad apples' argument only the apples are higher up. This is an improvement, but the issues are truly systemic and even humanity-wide)

Sometimes, however, we really need to focus on some details or else we lose sight of the true reality of the problems.

By the way, my blog is now launched -- check it out.

bjkeefe said...

Hey, Abu Noor! Thanks for stopping by.

You're right about the problem being unlikely to vanish once we get Bush & Co. out of office, but in fixing the problem, we have to start somewhere. That means voting against McCain, urging Congress and the next administration to do a full investigation into the Bush Administration's actions, and passing stronger and clearer laws against future temptations to torture.

Great news about the blog. I'll be right over, as soon as I add you to my blogroll.

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