irfan-chowdhury98

This is an extremely underrated film. Although there are no lengthy or particularly graphic scenes of torture in it, the atmosphere of abuse and fear at the Abu Ghraib prison is excellently conveyed. The acting is brilliant, particularly from Luke Moran. The breakdown of a fundamentally good person into a hardened soldier capable of committing atrocities is portrayed very well, with our sympathies lying of course with the detainees who are being subjected to torture, but also with Jack himself, the one committing torture and abuse. Although the film does not really offer anything new about the atrocities committed at the prison, it is a very human portrayal of the soldiers and it helps us to understand how war affected them to the extent that they ended up committing brutal acts of torture, whereas previously they would have been disgusted by such acts. I found the ending particularly upsetting, although as a whole the film isn't as hard a watch as, say, Taxi To The Darkside or The Road to Guantanamo, which deal with similar themes, due to the audience being able to empathise more with the soldiers in this film.