4/5 Pretty decent
  by J. Dykstra (Roswell, NM)
This is a pretty good depiction of what might have happened to a number of people in the Afghanistan action. It's obviously a fairly one-sided portrayal of events, especially once the detention parts start, and it's doubtful that everything happened exactly as portrayed, but in a general sense, I think the movie got things right. While the movie certainly suggests torture and mistreatment, I think the thing to take aways from it is how a situation that is normally seen by both sides to be rather black and white, in fact has a lot of gray areas. You almost have to watch the movie a couple times to be sure of what's what. The characters aren't developed very well, and that along with action that develops quickly and chaotically can sometimes create a bit of confusion as to what's happening to whom.

4/5 No Piety for the Abused
  by Michael Kerjman (The Earth)
It is a story of explicit abuse of British Pushtu's human rights in which being abused attracted not much piety at all because energy sustaining terror and breading the martyrs worldwide from their nations' cradles, is surely even much less deployed and usable to peaceful means in the UK traditionally (for instance, Kidulthood).

Depicting of a natural Afghan landscape is perfect. Very educative on these merits.

3/5 WHY DID THEY GO?
  by
The Road To Guantanamo

The reasons for these intellectually challenged British Muslims leaving England and going directly to a war zone is left remarkably unclear. They wanted to "Help" or see large a Nan bread? That for me is the most important question. Why did they go? I mean it is not what you would call a normal holiday. That crucial question is left unanswered.

Did these boys go to fight and then on seeing the realities of War try and escape?

The resulting experiences these boys were made to suffer are inexcusable in a modern world. Just listening to the interviewees should have been enough for the Americans and British to realise these kids posed little threat to anyone except to themselves.

How stupid they were not to shout to the rafters that they are British subjects. If they had come clean with British Military Intelligence things could have been very different.
I would like to see the evidence of the torture of these kids by the British Military.

If they had been given the chance, these boys would most certainly have come home to Britain at their first opportunity and probably never left again. This is an example of simple reality completely destroying indoctrinated and imagined beliefs.

The re-enactments are pretty poor. The objectivity is also very one-sided. The script is monosyllabic and enjoys the liberal usage of the word F**k.

3/5 WHY DID THEY GO?
  by nmollo (London)
The Road To Guantanamo

The reasons for these intellectually challenged British Muslims leaving England and going directly to a war zone is left remarkably unclear. They wanted to "Help" or see large a Nan bread? That for me is the most important question. Why did they go? I mean it is not what you would call a normal holiday. That crucial question is left unanswered.

Did these boys go to fight and then on seeing the realities of War try and escape?

The resulting experiences these boys were made to suffer are inexcusable in a modern world. Torture is simply not legitimate. Just listening to the interviewees should have been enough for the Americans and British to realise these kids posed little threat to anyone except to themselves.

How stupid they were not to shout to the rafters that they are British subjects. If they had come clean with British Military Intelligence things could have been very different.
I would like to see the evidence of the torture of these kids by the British Military. (Since writing this originally, I have found out the British Military did indeed use torture.)

If they had been given the chance, these boys would most certainly have come home to Britain at their first opportunity and probably never left again. This is an example of simple reality completely destroying indoctrinated and imagined beliefs.

The re-enactments are pretty poor. The objectivity is also very one-sided. The script is monosyllabic and enjoys the liberal usage of the word F**k.

3/5 Moderately successful critique of Guantanamo
  by Peter Hoogenboom (New Zealand)
"Road to Guantanamo" is Michael Winterbottom's attempt to criticise American methods of treating terror suspects and their detention at Guantanamo Bay. Winterbottom follows the story of three apparently innocent English Muslims who, through a number of twists and turns, ended up in Guantanamo.

It's a little hard to understand the naivety of the boys who journey to Afghanistan and end up with the Taleban just as the Americans are about to attack - post the 9/11 atrocities. Heck it looks pretty suspicious and it is no wonder the Americans were dubious about their innocence. The boys are knocked about a bit but hey the Americans were angry post 9/11 and not exactly polite to suspected terrorists.

The story really picks up when the boys are moved to Guantanamo. The treatment of the prisoners is not pretty although nowhere near the horrific cruelty that went on at, for instance, Abu Ghraib during Saddam Hussein's reign.

The emotional impact of the film is lessened somewhat by the aloofness of the four boys but the filmmakers are to be commended for making a film of this scale on such a low budget.

In the end Winterbottom is preaching to the converted here - I'm not so sure it will change people's attitudes either way.