Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Facing the Darkness Within

2007

Project Details

Released 2007
Production Company HBO/MoxieFirecracker Films/Directed by Rory Kennedy
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1	Letter	1:45
2	Protest	0:50
3	No plan	0:42
4	Tents	1:24
5	Iraqi prisoners	2:48
6	Next Iraqi interview	0:45
7	Iraqi interview	1:52
8	Rock bottom	1:10
9	Coverup	0:46
10	Epilog credits	4:28
11	Darby plane	1:16

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.

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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

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