The Road To Guantanamo

In 2001, three British citizens of Pakistani descent--Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Rhuhel Ahmed--went to Pakistan to prepare for Asif's arranged marriage. On impulse, they took a trip to Afghanistan to help the people who were preparing for an imminent U.S. invasion. Captured by the Northern Alliance, they were turned over to the Americans when it became clear they could speak English and ended up being held in Guantanamo for more than two years. The movie intersperses reality-TV style interviews with the three, directed by Mat Whitecross, and a reenactment of their story with actors Riz Ahmed, Arfan Usman and Farhad Harun, directed by Michael Winterbottom. It's an important story to tell, but the execution isn't all it could be. Winterbottom shoots irritatingly cheap-looking footage that's supposed to feel vérité but just looks bad, and an extended diarrhea joke feels gratuitous and out of place. The Guantanamo sequences, however, are eye-opening and are likely to bring home the reality of the situatuion, even for viewers who think they understand. We'd like to give the Gitmo parts an A and the rest a C-, but that averages out to an overall B.