The Road to Guantanamo

We accidentally went down this road instead of the road to Guacamole.

The Road to Guantanamo is a hard film to fully comprehend, let alone write about clearly and concisely. It’s challenging viewing. Only problem is, we’re not sure that it’s challenging in the way it’s supposed to be.

It’s about three young men and their journey from their home in the UK to Pakistan, Afghanistan and, eventually, the infamous Camp Delta at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It takes the form of a docu-drama. In other words, most of what you see is a re-enactment based on the accounts of the trio, who were released without charge in 2004.

While the whole ‘docu-drama’ technique is interesting, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Road has the nasty habit of failing to distinguish between actual footage and the aforementioned re-enactments. The narrative is rather fractured, particularly during the Afghanistan segment. While the film covers a long period of time – and understandably can’t dwell for too long on a particular point – it seems a bit… rushed. It fails to explain things that really could do with some justification or rationalisation, such as the trio’s taste in travelling companions. That said, the clarity, not to mention quality, of the film definitely picks up once the trio gets to Camp Delta.

Despite our grievances, Road isn’t terrible. But while it should be admired for being so ballsy about a very touchy issue, it is still deeply flawed.