Miriam Cutler

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Facing the Darkness Within

2007
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

Project Details

Released 2007
Production Company HBO/MoxieFirecracker Films/Directed by Rory Kennedy
Visit Film Website
Project Details

Synopsis


Wielding startlingly candid interviews with perpetrators, witnesses, and victims, GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB provides an inside look at the abuses that occurred at the Iraqi prison in the fall of 2003. Award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy explores how, given the right circumstances, typical boys and girls next door can commit atrocious acts of violence.


Visit GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB on Facebook.


Credits


HBO/Moxie Firecrackers Films


Directed by Rory Kennedy



Produced by Rory Kennedy, Liz Garbus, Jack Youngelson



Written by Jack Youngelson



Edited by Sari Gilman


Original Score by Miriam Cutler


Awards & Festivals


Premiered in competition at Sundance 2007


Broadcast on  HBO starting in February 2007


Primetime Emmy award winner 2008, Outstanding Non Fiction Special


Emmy Award nomination, Outstand Non Fiction Editing


Nominated,  2007 Grand Jury Prize in Documentary, Sundance Film Festival


Gracie Award for Outstanding Director, News Series or Special, Gracie Allen Awards


ghosts emmy     ghosts sundance 2007  hbo doc

Reviews



“A potent piece of documentary filmmaking.” ~ Cinematical


Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,” a documentary by Rory Kennedy on HBO tonight, looks up and down the chain of command to examine how and why the abuse took place. It is not a new line of inquiry; a 2005 PBS “Frontline” documentary went over the same ground and also concluded that responsibility for the excesses trickled upward all the way to Washington.


But the raw material never ceases to shock. How is it that a government that took such bold steps to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions and update the rules of combat did not pay closer attention to how its policy changes were carried out on the ground? The Pentagon didn’t even manage to shield the worst excesses from public view.


"Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” will appall and sadden viewers worried about human rights and international law. But it will be just as discouraging for those who believe that the danger posed by Al Qaeda trumps even those humanitarian concerns.


Abu Ghraib wasn’t just a moral failure, it was a strategic setback in the war against terror."

~ Alessandra Stanley, NY Times TV Review



Project Details

Synopsis


Wielding startlingly candid interviews with perpetrators, witnesses, and victims, GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB provides an inside look at the abuses that occurred at the Iraqi prison in the fall of 2003. Award-winning filmmaker Rory Kennedy explores how, given the right circumstances, typical boys and girls next door can commit atrocious acts of violence.


Visit GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB on Facebook.


Credits


HBO/Moxie Firecrackers Films


Directed by Rory Kennedy



Produced by Rory Kennedy, Liz Garbus, Jack Youngelson



Written by Jack Youngelson



Edited by Sari Gilman


Original Score by Miriam Cutler


Awards & Festivals


Premiered in competition at Sundance 2007


Broadcast on  HBO starting in February 2007


Primetime Emmy award winner 2008, Outstanding Non Fiction Special


Emmy Award nomination, Outstand Non Fiction Editing


Nominated,  2007 Grand Jury Prize in Documentary, Sundance Film Festival


Gracie Award for Outstanding Director, News Series or Special, Gracie Allen Awards


ghosts emmy     ghosts sundance 2007  hbo doc

Reviews



“A potent piece of documentary filmmaking.” ~ Cinematical


Ghosts of Abu Ghraib,” a documentary by Rory Kennedy on HBO tonight, looks up and down the chain of command to examine how and why the abuse took place. It is not a new line of inquiry; a 2005 PBS “Frontline” documentary went over the same ground and also concluded that responsibility for the excesses trickled upward all the way to Washington.


But the raw material never ceases to shock. How is it that a government that took such bold steps to reinterpret the Geneva Conventions and update the rules of combat did not pay closer attention to how its policy changes were carried out on the ground? The Pentagon didn’t even manage to shield the worst excesses from public view.


"Ghosts of Abu Ghraib” will appall and sadden viewers worried about human rights and international law. But it will be just as discouraging for those who believe that the danger posed by Al Qaeda trumps even those humanitarian concerns.


Abu Ghraib wasn’t just a moral failure, it was a strategic setback in the war against terror."

~ Alessandra Stanley, NY Times TV Review



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