good back-story, and good acting

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Yunis, the freelance Iraqi journalist who tells this story, had been imprisoned and tortured by one of Saddam Hussein's sons, so he was no friend of that regime. When America starts dropping its bombs and raiding houses, he sets out to document what is happening to his country, courageously venturing out into the mayhem and photographing the disintegration of his country. He goes to the wedding of a friend, his brother fires off celebratory shots in the air, and soon after American military soldiers have broken into his home, capturing Yunis and his brothers at gunpoint and frightening his elderly father and mother. This marks the beginning of a Kafkaesque encounter with military detention. His protestations of innocence do not convince anybody who is in power to release him, although an American soldier who is functioning as a guard at Abu Ghraib forms a bond with him, and they develop a mutual respect. Yunis settles into prison life, eating worm-infested food, sleeping in a tent, living in squalor, and surviving various riots by disgruntled prisoners, most who appear to be in much the same situation as Yunis -- innocent people who have been swept up by indiscriminate military operations. He begins working as an interpreter and at one point is instrumental in quelling a riot. He tries to make his adjustments to this nightmarish existence, and he finds various ways to do something constructive in that context. In this crazy setting no good deed can go unpunished, and he is transfered to the most restrictive part of Abu Ghraib, where he is interrogated and accused of plotting with his brothers to kill Tony Blair! After nine months of captivity he is finally released, the prison camp commander tells him he is no longer a suspect, and he is given an apology for his imprisonment. Yunis goes back to his family with his brothers. There he feels as though he is in a dream, expecting to wake up still imprisoned. This is a disturbing film. It shows American soldiers carrying out operations in a foreign country that destroy people's lives because of the folly of their judgments. It shows American military incarcerating innocent people in very dehumanizing conditions. This Iraqi journalist is trapped in this very strange world --it feels like being held under water. Yunis has experienced it from both sides -- malicious brutality from the regime of Saddam Hussein and then again from the occupying forces of United States. Does America descend to the moral equivalent of the regime they overthrew? This documentary seems to suggest so, although there is some redemption through the voice of one American guard, who describes his experiences in Abu Ghraib and his attempts to bring some sanity to that insane situation. I would have liked subtitles when Yunis is speaking. His English is certainly understandable, but at times it is a struggle.

This film uses chapter breaks and comic book-style illustrations to highlight the amusing, astonishing, and horrifying absurdity of its central tale: that of an Iraqi that was taken prisoner based upon false information. The same duo that borough us Gunner Palace, a look at the Iraq invasion from the eyes of an American soldier, now presents a view from the Iraqi side in this indie film nominated for an American Spirit Award.Now, one may tend to discount the testimony of an Iraqi about innocence or the conditions at the prisons, or the treatment by interrogators, but the fact is that there is overwhelming documentation written by U.S. military in high positions attesting to the fact that up to 90% of the prisoners had no intelligence values and were "simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." These same military officers also knew of the inhumane conditions in the prisons and the fact that basic sanitation was lacking, and that the contractor-supplied food was rancid and infested and caused the prisoners to vomit and experience diarrhea after they ate. This would be obvious to anyone who saw the prisoners as they had all lost weight.The treatment of the Iraqis as documented in this film brings shame upon all Americans as we are the ones who allow those responsible to remain in office.

This film is a sequel of sorts to "Gunner Palace" the Iraq film that came out in 2005. Much like that film, The Prisoner is not overtly political, rather, it lets the characters tell the story. In Gunner Palace, the perspective is the American soldier. In The Prisoner, the perspective is largely Iraqi. The films should be watched together to fully appreciate.I don't want to give away too much, but I can say that you walk away from this film feeling like you know an Iraqi and have a new sense of just how much the Iraqi people suffered--both under Saddam and during this conflict. The film is also surprisingly funny and it should come with a disclaimer that gives the audience permission to laugh. It would be funny if it wasn't true!As we enter the 5th year of the war, more people need to see films like this. I would also suggest reading the director's back-story in Vanity Fair at http://www.theprisoner.us.

An expanded version of this Kafkaesque film screened today at the SXSW Film Festival. The film, a spin off from Tucker and Epperstein's earlier Iraq film, Gunner Palace, tells the story of an ordinary Iraqi arrested and held at Abu Gharib for no apparent reason. Yunnis Abbas is an articulate English-speaking Iraqi journalist - who was once imprisoned and tortured by one of Saddam's sons - is arrested during a raid one night, along with 3 of his brothers, for no apparent reason. He is interrogated and held for 9 months and then suddenly released. There is no expalnation for his detention under awful conditions in an outdoor tent complex at Abu Gharib. There is no evidence beyond a vague and unsubstantiated accusation that he is somehow involved in a plot to kill British Prime Minister Tony Blair.The film tells a story that Americans need to hear. It is one of thousands of such human tales that occur every day in American-occupied Iraq. This story of the injustice done to a single man is a microcosm of the insane nature, brutality, and intelligence failures that have come to typify the war in Iraq. The surreal nature of American soldiers chasing shadows of terrorists is plain to see. While there have been many good films about the Iraq War, this one does an excellent job of humanizing the cost so that Americans can see the destructive and incompetent nature of the human tragedy playing out in Iraq. The film is stark and disturbing to watch with touches of dark humor.The version screened here at SXSW has been significantly expanded to 72 minutes from the 54 minute version that screened in Toronto. The director has added an extended interview with a recently discharged US soldier (Thompson) who guarded Yassin Abbas in Abu Gharib. His presence adds a human element to the American presence. It shows that while many individual soldiers are competent, well-intentioned, and humane, the American presence has become a self-destructive nightmare.This film should be widely viewed by Americans, particularly those who believe that we are succeeded in winning the "War on Terror" through our continued presence in Iraq.