# Taxi to the Dark Side
**Taxi to the Dark Side** is a 2007 American documentary film directed, written, and produced by [Alex Gibney](https://www.edgepedia.org/alex-gibney) that examines the use of torture by the United States military and government during the War on Terror. It is built around the death of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver who was taken to the US detention center at Bagram Air Base in December 2002, arriving four days later, and was dead five days after that, and it widens from that case to interrogation practices at Bagram, Abu Ghraib, and [Guantánamo Bay](https://www.edgepedia.org/guantanamo-bay) and the chain of responsibility reaching to the White House and Pentagon.[1](https://tribecafilm.com/films/512d04a11c7d76e0460026e5-taxi-to-the-dark-side) • [2](https://www.jigsawprods.com/work/taxi-to-the-dark-side/) The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008.[3](https://nieman.harvard.edu/tim-golden-a-part-of-oscar-winning-documentary-a-taxi-from-the-dark-side/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Alex Gibney, also a producer with Eva Orner and Susannah Shipman[2](https://www.jigsawprods.com/work/taxi-to-the-dark-side/) |
| Central subject | Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver detained at Bagram Air Base in December 2002 and killed in custody within five days[1](https://tribecafilm.com/films/512d04a11c7d76e0460026e5-taxi-to-the-dark-side) |
| Premiere | 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary[4](https://www.aclu.org/documents/taxi-dark-side) |
| Academy Award | Best Documentary Feature, 80th Academy Awards, February 24, 2008[3](https://nieman.harvard.edu/tim-golden-a-part-of-oscar-winning-documentary-a-taxi-from-the-dark-side/) |
| Other honors | 2008 Peabody Award; 2009 News and Documentary Emmy Award for research[5](https://www.nrcat.org/storage/documents/nrcat_taxi_to_the_dark_side_guide_9-30-08.pdf) • [6](https://www.neh.gov/sites/default/files/inline-files/FOIA%2020-104%20College%20Behind%20Bars.pdf) |
| Release | Limited US theatrical release January 18, 2008 through THINKFilm; 106 minutes[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0854678/) |
| Box office | $274,661 domestic, $294,309 worldwide, against an estimated $1,000,000 budget[7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0854678/) • [8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 82 from 25 reviews; 100% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 93 reviews[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_to_the_dark_side) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Bagram airbase, Afghanistan, December 2002. Dilawar, a 22-year-old taxi driver and father, is picked up at a checkpoint on the word of an informer and taken to the American detention facility there. He is innocent. Within days he is dead, and the military initially reports the death as a suicide. Gibney builds the whole film from that case file: everything that follows, from Bagram to Abu Ghraib to Guantánamo Bay, is measured against what happened to this one man.
The witnesses carry the story. Former Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg describes his captivity in measured, unnervingly calm terms. On the other side of the bars, American interrogators and military police speak with startling candor. One of them, Damien Corsetti, a self-described "King of the Torture Interrogators," talks with a mix of bravado and bitterness that sketches the whole culture of the interrogation rooms. A military policeman who was present in Dilawar's cell recounts what happened there in a flat, bewildered register that no narration could improve on.
**The film's centerpiece is the reconstruction of Dilawar's death, staged in stark black-and-white reenactments interleaved with the logbook entries the guards themselves wrote.** The methodical form is the horror: each shift logged its own work. Dilawar was chained by the wrists to the ceiling of his cell and kept standing, deprived of sleep, and beaten around the legs by guards who, the logbooks show, took turns. Over days the tissue of his legs was destroyed. A military pathologist testifies that the legs were so pulverized that Dilawar could not have survived even a normal walk, and that the death was homicide. The soldiers on screen explain themselves, and in explaining themselves indict the system above them; Gibney lets their testimony do the work without editorializing over it.
From that cell the film widens. The practices at Bagram were not improvised cruelty by a few bad apples but procedures sanctioned and redefined on paper after 2001: the Justice Department memos narrowing what counted as torture, [John Yoo](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-yoo)'s legal work, [Donald Rumsfeld](https://www.edgepedia.org/donald-rumsfeld)'s authorization of harsher techniques at Guantánamo, and the migration of those techniques to Iraq, where they surfaced in the Abu Ghraib photographs. Gibney interviews soldiers who participated in torture sessions believing they were following orders, while their superiors claimed innocence all the way up to President Bush, who claimed ignorance of torture.[18](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taxi-to-the-dark-side-2008)
The accounting at the end is deliberately asymmetric. The guards and low-level soldiers who killed Dilawar were disciplined, some convicted by court-martial. The officials whose memos made the treatment possible were promoted or left office untouched. The film presents the convicted personnel as scapegoats for a policy that originated far above them.[19](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/taxi-to-the-dark-side/) The title lands only at the close, when Gibney quotes [Dick Cheney](https://www.edgepedia.org/dick-cheney)'s remark, made days after 9/11, that the war on terror would have to work "the dark side." The final judgment is that the darkness was chosen, deliberately and in writing.
The last word belongs to Gibney's own father, Frank, a veteran interrogator of World War II and the [Korean War](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-war), who ties his flagging faith in the American government to the erosion of American reverence for the rule of law.[20](http://www.cpreview.org/articles/2008/04/film-review-taxi-to-the-dark-side)
### Characters
- **Dilawar**, the Afghan taxi driver whose death anchors the film, seen in photographs and through the testimony of his family and the soldiers who killed him.
- **Moazzam Begg**, a former Guantánamo detainee, whose measured firsthand account of captivity gives the film its view from inside the cage.
- **Damien Corsetti**, an American Army interrogator who embraced the job's swaggering identity and speaks about the interrogation rooms with a mixture of pride and resentment.
- **Alex Gibney**, the director, who stays offscreen almost entirely until the final interview with his own father.
### Interpretations and controversies
The film's argument, that torture was a policy choice rather than an excess of a few soldiers, was itself the controversy. Critics of the film saw a one-sided prosecution of the Bush administration; supporters pointed to the documents and testimony on screen. The LA Times reviewer found the psychological embrace of torture by officials more appalling than the physical acts depicted.[21](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jan-18-et-darkside18-story.html) Gibney, asked at a Tribeca screening what he wanted the film to do, said, "I hope it provokes some rage."[22](https://www.salon.com/2007/04/30/tribeca_2_3/)
## The Dilawar case
On December 1, 2002, a Kabul taxi driver named Dilawar took three passengers for a ride and never returned home. Four days later he arrived at the US military detention center at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, and five days after that he was dead.[1](https://tribecafilm.com/films/512d04a11c7d76e0460026e5-taxi-to-the-dark-side) He had been held on suspicion of involvement in a rocket attack, but he was not an enemy fighter, had no terrorist connections, and had committed no crime; as Gibney put it, "He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was the wrong man."[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2007/04/27/down-a-dark-road/372737b9-aac3-45f1-85aa-ea620ff5a6ea/)
The physical evidence was severe. Military interrogators hung him from a cage in chains, kept him awake all night, and beat him until his legs were, in the words of a military pathologist, "pulpified"; he would have required amputations had he survived.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2007/04/27/down-a-dark-road/372737b9-aac3-45f1-85aa-ea620ff5a6ea/) • [11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/taxi-to-the-dark-side) The Army initially attributed his death to natural causes even though coroners had ruled it a homicide, and low-level soldiers were punished.[10](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2007/04/27/down-a-dark-road/372737b9-aac3-45f1-85aa-ea620ff5a6ea/) The death was first investigated by *New York Times* reporters Tim Golden and Carlotta Gall, whose interviews appear in the film.[3](https://nieman.harvard.edu/tim-golden-a-part-of-oscar-winning-documentary-a-taxi-from-the-dark-side/)
## Argument and structure
Gibney uses the Dilawar case as a starting point for a broader investigation of US detention and interrogation policy after September 11. The film traces how the Bagram interrogators were reassigned to Abu Ghraib in Iraq, where photographs of detainee abuse emerged in 2004, and how the Bush administration sought to skirt international law on torture by devising new terms and techniques under the rubric of "enhanced interrogation."[11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/taxi-to-the-dark-side) It follows the chain of responsibility from the commander in chief in the White House through the Pentagon to the lowest prison guard and interrogator.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/15/culture.review)
**Interviews and evidence.** Using footage shot within the prisons at Bagram, Abu Ghraib, and Guantánamo Bay, along with conversations involving ex-government officials, interrogators, guards, reporters, and relatives of prisoners who were tortured, the film builds its case.[4](https://www.aclu.org/documents/taxi-dark-side) Soldiers stationed at the prisons admit on camera to techniques including isolation, ceiling handcuffing, sleep deprivation, strip humiliation, waterboarding, threats by menacing dogs, and sexual abuse, which they say were condoned or approved by superiors despite violating the [Geneva Conventions](https://www.edgepedia.org/geneva-conventions).[5](https://www.nrcat.org/storage/documents/nrcat_taxi_to_the_dark_side_guide_9-30-08.pdf) Interviewees include former Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg, Senator Carl Levin, Defense Department official Alberto Mora, and Justice Department lawyer John Yoo.[13](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2008/archive/taxi-to-the-dark-side/)
The film's argument about accountability is pointed. It singles out the President's legal advisers John Yoo and [Alberto Gonzales](https://www.edgepedia.org/alberto-gonzales) and, above all, Vice President Dick Cheney, whose post-9/11 declaration that "we have to work the dark side" gives the film its title's frame.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/15/culture.review) • [11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/taxi-to-the-dark-side) At the same time it presents junior soldiers, untrained for the tasks assigned them, as people who did terrible things while believing they were doing their duty, and it gives space to senior officials who challenged the evolving policy.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/15/culture.review) According to a Columbia Political Review review, the film weaves together four story lines that show America's culpability: the origins of the torture methods, breakdowns in the military's chain of command, how legal readings of torture developed over time, and the American people's own share in the blame.[14](https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2008/04/film-review-taxi-to-the-dark-side)
## Production and release
The film was produced by Jigsaw Productions with Tall Woods, Discovery Channel, Wider Film Projects, and X-Ray Productions, and was distributed theatrically by ThinkFilm.[2](https://www.jigsawprods.com/work/taxi-to-the-dark-side/) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_to_the_dark_side) Maryse Alberti and Greg Andracke served as cinematographers and Sloane Klevin as editor.[2](https://www.jigsawprods.com/work/taxi-to-the-dark-side/) It was also part of the *Why Democracy?* series, ten films commissioned by a group of international broadcasters including Australia's SBS, which aired simultaneously worldwide in October 2007.[15](https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/2010/10/19/sbs-wins-oscar-again/)
After its Tribeca premiere and Grand Jury Prize in 2007, the film opened in limited US release on January 18, 2008, grossing $10,930 on its opening weekend and $274,661 domestically.[4](https://www.aclu.org/documents/taxi-dark-side) • [7](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0854678/) It later became available on home video and streaming services.[9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_to_the_dark_side)
## Reception
Critical response was strongly favorable. The film holds a Metascore of 82 based on 25 reviews and a 100% Tomatometer rating from 93 critics, with an audience score of 90%.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678) • [9](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_to_the_dark_side) Reviewers singled out its synthesis of reporting and its interviews with the soldiers themselves: the *Wall Street Journal*'s Joe Morgenstern wrote that the film adds interviews with soldiers who served as interrogators in Afghanistan and at Abu Ghraib and who, in some cases that ended in courts martial, served prison terms themselves.[16](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678/criticreviews/) A.O. Scott of *The New York Times* wrote, "If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential."[13](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2008/archive/taxi-to-the-dark-side/) At the 80th Academy Awards it won Best Documentary Feature, beating the war documentary *No End in Sight*, Michael Moore's *[Sicko](https://www.edgepedia.org/sicko)*, *Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience*, and *War/Dance*.[3](https://nieman.harvard.edu/tim-golden-a-part-of-oscar-winning-documentary-a-taxi-from-the-dark-side/) • [17](https://staibabussalamsula.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Juhasz_Alexandra_Lebow_Alisa_A_Companion_to_Contemporary_Documentary-staibabussalamsula.ac_.id_.pdf)
## References
1. [Taxi to the Dark Side, 2007 Tribeca Festival](https://tribecafilm.com/films/512d04a11c7d76e0460026e5-taxi-to-the-dark-side)
2. [Taxi to the Dark Side, Jigsaw Productions](https://www.jigsawprods.com/work/taxi-to-the-dark-side/)
3. [Tim Golden a Part of Oscar-Winning Documentary, "A Taxi From the Dark Side", Nieman Foundation, February 28, 2008](https://nieman.harvard.edu/tim-golden-a-part-of-oscar-winning-documentary-a-taxi-from-the-dark-side/)
4. ["Taxi to the Dark Side" Reveals Bush's Torture Policies, ACLU, January 18, 2008](https://www.aclu.org/documents/taxi-dark-side)
5. [Taxi to the Dark Side: A Discussion Guide, National Religious Campaign Against Torture](https://www.nrcat.org/storage/documents/nrcat_taxi_to_the_dark_side_guide_9-30-08.pdf)
6. [NEH FOIA 20-104, 2009 News and Documentary Emmy Award for Research](https://www.neh.gov/sites/default/files/inline-files/FOIA%2020-104%20College%20Behind%20Bars.pdf)
7. [Taxi to the Dark Side (2007), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0854678/)
8. [Taxi to the Dark Side (2007), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678)
9. [Taxi to the Dark Side, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_to_the_dark_side)
10. [Down a Dark Road, The Washington Post, April 26, 2007](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/style/2007/04/27/down-a-dark-road/372737b9-aac3-45f1-85aa-ea620ff5a6ea/)
11. [Taxi to the Dark Side review, Time Out, June 10, 2008](https://www.timeout.com/movies/taxi-to-the-dark-side)
12. [Taxi to the Dark Side review, Philip French, The Guardian, June 15, 2008](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/15/culture.review)
13. [Taxi to the Dark Side, New Zealand International Film Festival 2008](https://www.nziff.co.nz/2008/archive/taxi-to-the-dark-side/)
14. [Film Review: Taxi to the Dark Side, Columbia Political Review, April 2008](https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2008/04/film-review-taxi-to-the-dark-side)
15. [SBS Wins Oscar .. Again, SBS Media Releases, February 2008](https://www.sbs.com.au/aboutus/2010/10/19/sbs-wins-oscar-again/)
16. [Taxi to the Dark Side (2007) Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678/criticreviews/)
17. [A Companion to Contemporary Documentary Film, Juhasz and Lebow (eds.)](https://staibabussalamsula.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Juhasz_Alexandra_Lebow_Alisa_A_Companion_to_Contemporary_Documentary-staibabussalamsula.ac_.id_.pdf)
18. [https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taxi-to-the-dark-side-2008](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/taxi-to-the-dark-side-2008)
19. [https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/taxi-to-the-dark-side/](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/taxi-to-the-dark-side/)
20. [http://www.cpreview.org/articles/2008/04/film-review-taxi-to-the-dark-side](http://www.cpreview.org/articles/2008/04/film-review-taxi-to-the-dark-side)
21. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jan-18-et-darkside18-story.html](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jan-18-et-darkside18-story.html)
22. [https://www.salon.com/2007/04/30/tribeca_2_3/](https://www.salon.com/2007/04/30/tribeca_2_3/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Documentary films by subject: politics, war, and society › Released 1927 to 2016*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license