Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Film Review

Director Rory Kennedy's film Ghosts of Abu Ghraib paints a bleak portrait of one of the most heinous acts in recent history. In an aura reminiscent of Night and Fog, Kennedy sculpts a tale of human cruelty in which violence and torture are concealed and rewarded by a chain of corruption that culminates with the Bush Administration.

Beginning with September 11^th and ending with the media leak of the infamous torture photos and the consequences thereof; Ghosts of Abu Ghraib objectively and progressively attempts to answer the question "how could this happen?" The film utilizes interviews with American Soldiers, Detained Iraqis, Government Representatives, and other Subject Matter Experts to chronologically recount the events and internal reasoning that led up to the all to recent graphic violation of Iraqi human rights; while at the same time drawing historical comparison to the classic 1960s Obedience to Authority experiments of Stanley Milgram.

This film truly transcends most documentaries on many levels. The structure was superb; inter-cutting interviews and file footage into a chronological recreation of the events that led to so much pain and suffering. Although the documentary was mainly comprised of talking heads the momentum and aesthetics were not compromised; mainly due to crisp, high-contrast cinematography and multi-camera interviews edited together to add depth to the characters. The access to interviewees involved at every level of the scandal adds even more depth to both the subject and characters involved in the film; while creating truly informative and haunting perspectives of a situation that cuts to the core of the human psyche.

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib is an important political film that uncannily draws you in from the first frame; sucking you into a post nine-eleven world ravaged by war, plagued by fear and discrimination, and punctuated by human cruelty and mental anguish. A world where such atrocities are sanctioned by a corrupt and greedy Government that threatens to destroy the essence of humanity.