Pamela Taylor - Australian filmmaker Olivia Rousset intended her trilogy about torture and abuse at the infamous Baghdad prison to one day be shown in America to help the mass public understand what their government is doing in their name.
Although it is unlikely that “Abu Ghraib Trilogy” will be widely distributed in the United States, the fact the images have been shown elsewhere has pushed the US government to allow US journalists and others access to previously forbidden images under the Freedom of Information Act.
The new images are even more shocking than those already flashed around the world. Many viewers said they found it difficult to watch the depictions of sexual depravity, terror and outright torture, let alone believe such acts could be committed by the country that once proudly bore the banner for respecting human rights.
In the first part of the trilogy, Rousset interviews the man under the black hood and other victims of torture at Abu Ghraib. “What kind of information do they think they are going to get by forcing me to drink my own urine?” the man asks, naming the most minor of the abuses he suffered.
The tide is turning in the US
The last part of the trilogy “A Torturer’s Tale” provides first hand evidence from two soldiers who participated in abuse at Abu Ghraib. One is visibly traumatized by what he did, the other less so but both are clear that they were acting on orders from above, whether from US intelligence or the Pentagon.
During the debate that followed the film, Eric Sottas of the World Organization Against Torture said he believed the tide is turning in the United States.
“US public opinion has changed since September 11. In the early days US officials were looking at how far they could go in combating terrorism. Today one can see a sort of reverse current taking place and I am certain that one day we will see the perpetrators of these crimes, including those at the highest level, judged by an American tribunal.”
A young Arabic-speaker in the audience wondered if showing such horrible images might not provoke even more acts of martyrdom by extremists.
Bring back Saddam!
The Abu Ghraib Trilogy dominated the post-film debate on Saturday night to the exclusion of the other two documentaries: “Baghdad: a Doctor’s Story” and “Baghdad Days” but this was not because they were any less engrossing.
“Bagdad: a Doctor’s Story” was especially poignant, a heart-pumping, close up look at daily life inside Al Yarmouk hospital, filmed by an anonymous Iraqi doctor. He also presented never-before seen images of the ‘everyday horror’ of life in Iraq today, following a brave doctor on his daily rounds caring for both Shiites and Sunnis.
One of the most memorable scenes is inside a screaming ambulance carrying victims of a suicide bomb. The man says, “I can’t believe Iraqis are doing this to Iraqis! Where are these people coming from?” A Shia woman lying on a nearby stretcher screams, “bring back Saddam! Life was better then!”