Harald And Kumar - Escpae From Guantánamo Bay

[Wíll Tómsétt]

“ I was locked up and mistreated for being in the wrong place at the wrong time…Like hundreds of Guantanamo detainees, I was never a terrorist or a soldier. I was never even on a battlefield. Pakistani bountry hunters sold me and 17 others to the United States military like animals for $5,000 a head. The Americans made a terrible mistake.”

A new film, “Harald and Kumar – Escape from Guantanamo”, is due to some out soon - one which no doubt will be quite funny. There will probably be a few jokes I'll find funny. There may also be a few jokes I'll share with my friends. But I for one won't go to see a film which makes a mockery of the poor souls imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay.

Hundreds of people from many different nationalities have been transported to the USA's offshore Prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. At every stage of their ordeal, their dignity, humanity, and fundamental human rights have been denied.
These people are what the US authorities loosely brand as "enemy combatants" in a global conflict. Looking over a list of where these people come from, the most striking fact is that they all hail from or were picked up in the Middle or Far East.

Five years since the opening of Guantanamo (what Amnesty International describes as “an icon of lawlessness”), hundreds of men are still held in the camp. All are unlawfully detained.  Many have been tortured or ill-treated.

Many detainees are Muslims. At least 17, claims Amnesty International, are children. Some were arrested in or near conflict zones; others were picked up in countries far from any fighting such as Bonia and Herzegovinia. Some had job,s some were students. Now they are sharing in the greatest crime of the 21st Century so far, and it is being committed by that state which has always valued freedom and the “respect and dignity of the individual” (in the words of the Founding Fathers) before all else.

But those who run the camp seem to have a perverted idea of the American Dream. In the (alleged) words of one interrogator: “We made this camp for people who would be here forever. You should never think about going home. You’ll be here all your life….Don’t worry. We’ll keep you alive so you can suffer more.”

Some detainees have had no contact with their families whatsoever. Some have children they have never met. One detainee, Mohamed al-Qahtani, was forced to wear a woman’s bra. He had a thong placed on his head. He was tied by a leash, led around the room and forced to perform dog tricks. He was made to dance with an interrogator while wearing a towel like a burkha. He was forced to stand for long periods (a typical Soviet interrogation technique). His hair and beard were forcibly shaved during interrogation. He was strip searched in front of women. He was sexually humiliated, and subject to sexual insults about his female relatives. He had water repeatedly poured over his head. He was subjected to hooding, loud music, white noise, and to extremes of heat and cold. He was forced to urinate on his clothing. He was interrogated for over 17 hours a day for 48 out of 54 consecutive days.

This is just one horror story from Guantanamo. There are many, many more.  The camp is a symbol of the gross injustice and hypocrisy of the American Government (the acts detailed above were deemed by a military investigation not to be “inhumane treatment”. It also found “no evidence of torture or inhumane treatment” at Guantanamo – and it still remains a legal black hole in the eyes of the law), and should be closed. To their credit, all US Presidential Candidates advocate its closure.

But to make a film laughing at the poor souls contained within this hell is not just morally wrong, it make the crime worse than it is. From what adverts I have seen (and I haven’t seen much, so don’t consider me an absolute authority), the film seems to be laughing at two Guantanamo escapees. This is not a funny joke. I consider this film tantamount to “Harald and Kumar – escape from Auschwitz”

But why aren’t people getting angry? This film seems to be laughing at people who are trapped inside a living hell. This should be stopped. A film which makes a mockery of the crimes committed at Guantanamo should be banned in the United Kingdom and in other civilised nations. That is why I am having a personal boycott on the film. I encourage others to join me. Governments have a duty to protect the human rights of us all. As our enlightened leaders are not doing this, I will take the initiative and campaign for not only the end to this film, but a closure of Guantanamo.

Guantanamo is emblematic of the US Government’s failure to fulfil that duty. It is a legal and moral disgrace. It should be closed.

My personal view - I'm throwing this out to everyone.Thoughts?

[Guido Zambelis]

suspend freedom of speech because you don't like what is being said? a tad hypocritical. boycott all you want, but never try and ban anything.

(you as in the french 'on')

[Wíll Tómsétt]

Sorry, did I put ban? I meant boycott. I was tired and supposed to be revisng when i wrote that.

[Behmanesh FarzAn]

He's criticising what he admits he hasn't seen.  That's ignorance.  Sure, it's an emotive argument, but it's not valid.  If you wrote a book review without reading it, what would your teacher say?

[Wíll Tómsétt]

She'd hit me.

I've taken a look at the website, and I will read reviews on the film, but if it's a boycott, I can't exactly go see it, can I?

[Behmanesh FarzAn]

Boycotting is fundamentally stupid if you think a film's that bad.  If your argument is valid, then let people see the film: the effect of word of mouth and bad reviews is far greater than the illicit hype afforded a film by a boycott.

[shadowbladeprime]

The critics will pan it but not for the reasons above

[Behmanesh FarzAn]

I'm not so sure.  It's got a good cast.

[shadowbladeprime]

many movie critics have a low tolerance for movies like the  two Harold and Kumar movies . If you listen watch or read the influential critics like Roger Ebert, Kim Newman or Mark Kermode or simply look on metacritic or rotten tomatoes , they do not appreciate movies which the general public may like but have nothing to do with the art of film making and are there simply to make money.

Besides this is not the first time Guantánamo has being satirized and it certainly will not be the last.

[Behmanesh FarzAn]

This is something else that persistently annoys me: the myth that Hollywood was ever anything other than a commercial enterprise.

[Troy Thompson]

Indeed, Hollywood is, always has been and always will be a commercial enterprise.

And, actually, it has produced and marketed films that are a million times worse than this. If you don't believe me, take a look at what the most profitable film of all time was before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs dethroned it in 1937.

[Wíll Tómsétt]

It was socially acceptable back then. Rascism was not looked at with the attitude it is today. Look at the amount of anti-Semitism in the UK in the 1940s.