Taxi to the Darkside

Taxi to the Darkside

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Taxi to the Darkside

Question 1

            Watching the film made me feel heartbroken, angry, and sad at the time. Seeing a human being torture, another to death is simply cruel, inhuman, and sinful. What makes it worse is the fact that Dilawar was an innocent taxi driver who just happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time (Phillips, 2010).

Question 2

            The film is generally invokes feelings of sadness, anger, and anxiety. Some of the scenes are gruesome and difficult to watch. One of the scenes that particularly stood out for me was when the soldiers who were detaining Dilawar would administer strokes to his body, and he would call out Allah’s name. His outcry seemed to amuse and entertain them as they repeatedly struck him, as he called out Allah’s name, for over 24 hours. This particular scene is very painful to watch, as it is wrong to mock another on religious grounds, especially the fact that Dilawar was in excruciating pain. The other scene that stood out for me was when the soldiers pummeled his knees in order to immobilize him, to an extent they could not bend. I found that extremely violent, crude, and inhuman, considering Dilawar was unarmed and could not harm them. The soldiers used unreasonable force. After being physically tortured, he was taken back to his cell, and instead of being let to rest and nurse his wounds, the soldiers, following orders, hang him on the ceiling. This was another difficult scene to watch, as one can see and almost feel Dilawar’s pain as he suspends from the ceiling, chained to the wrists.

Question 3

            Yes, I think what happened to Dilawar has happened to other people, who have been held captive in prisons and tortured. One of them is Binyam Mohammed, who was considered by the Unites States government as a potential terrorist and was therefore arrested, and secretly taken over to Guantanamo Bay prison. There, he was tortured in various ways such as being hung up, scalded with hot water, violently beaten and pushed into a black hole, in which he was starved and beaten more. Another torture victim is the Pakistani doctor Dr. Aafia Siddiqui who was arrested and accused on attempted assault and murder of US personnel. She was detained for five years and claims she was abused.

Question 4

            I think torture dehumanizes an individual, takes away the life in them, is sinful, and unnecessary. Sometimes torture motivates someone to withhold any information that the detaining party wants to retrieve. It is morally, religiously, and socially wrong to torture a living being. I think that the best way to obtain information from a person is using kindness, until they feel obliged to provide any important details.

Question 5

            Despite various military and legal personnel claiming, that torture is immoral, illegal, and effective, it is still used as a tool of obtaining information from potential suspects or culprits. The Geneva Conventions are elaborate on how to treat prisoners of war, and other civilians who are detained for whatever reason. I think that torture is still being used, secretly because it is considered effective in most cases. It is still used because some governments feel more superior to others and the anarchy prevailing gives them a leeway to do as they wish. For Dilawar’s torture, seven soldiers have been charged. I believe that the entire government and the particular individuals who carried out the atrocious acts should be held accountable for such disturbing transgressions against humanity.

References:

Phillips, J. (2010). None of us were like this before. London: Verso.