HATRED REIGNS IN CAMP X-RAY
There are two ways of reviewing Camp X-Ray, a dramatic film directed by Peter Sattler on behalf of a production company in Karachi. One is to watch Private First Class Cole (played by Kristen Stewart) as she is assigned to the maximum security prison at Guantánamo, learns the routine, but finds more sincerity on the part of prisoner Ali Amir (Peyman Maadi) than her fellow soldiers. Ali has finally found in Cole, whom he calls “Blondie,” an interlocutor who is civil enough to engage him in conversation, not just about his confinement but about a Harry Potter volume that he would like to read and her state of mind as she guards him and even prevents him from committing suicide. The other way is to count the number of war crimes being committed: (1) The denial that they are war criminals, as the euphemism “detainees” is used to pretend that the Geneva Conventions do not apply. (2) Violating medical ethics by forced feeding. (3) Cruel treatment in the form of forced movement from cell to cell. (4) Outrages upon personal dignity, which prompts Cole to file a complaint. (5) Reprisals for refusal to eat. (6) Systematic insults. (7) Cramped housing in a single cell. (8) Solitary confinement. (9) Prisoners disallowed from food preparation. (10) Prisoners not allowed to eat together. (11) Lack of a prison canteen. (12) Inadequate recreational opportunities. (13) Inhumane transfer of prisoners to Guantánamo. (14) Failure to allow prisoners to elect representatives for negotiation with prison management. (15) Repeated punishment. (16) Punishment beyond the 30-day maximum. (17) Corporal punishment evidenced by scars on Ali’s body. (18) Confinement without daylight. (19) Inhumane treatment, notably lights left on for 24 hours. (20) Failure to try accused prisoners. (21). Lack of speedy trials. (22) Failure to have a public list of Geneva Convention provisions. (23) Failure to disseminate Geneva Convention provisions to military personnel. (24) Failure to allow visits between prisoners and their attorneys. (25) Failure to allow United Nations personnel to visit prisoners. (26) Failure to allow the Red Cross or other nongovernmental organizations to visit prisoners. (27) Failure of commanding officers to report offenses against prisoners to their superiors. (28) Failure of commanding officers to discipline or prosecute soldiers committing offenses against prisoners. (29) Attempts to justify torture. (30) Failure to repatriate prisoners promptly. (31) Failure to allow prisoners to correspond with families. But these are only a subset of 165 war crimes against prisoners committed by the United States since 9/11, as documented in George W. Bush, War Criminal? (2009), a book for sale in a Karachi bookstore that is only available online in the USA. Accordingly, the Political Film Society has nominated Camp X-Ray as best film of 2014 in the category of human rights. MH
PREJUDICE REIGNS IN DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
The title is the name of a vlog operated by Samantha White (played by Tessa Thompson), a Black student at an Ivy League school (though filmed at the University of Minnesota). A candidate for the presidency of a dorm, she is annoyed by White naïveté toward her race and tries to inform students of their verbal foibles. But she is also annoyed by Uncle Toms, in particular incumbent Troy Fairbanks (Brandon P. Bell), whom she defeats in what appears to be a rigged election. The students are portrayed as overly articulate, responding to each other’s verbal barbs far too confrontationally. Evidently because of three actual racial incidents headlined in credits at the end (one involving Dartmouth), director Justin Simien is seeking to explain how Blacks might respond to White stereotyping of Blacks—and Black self-stereotyping—if they were so bold. In a Black audience, the film would be seen as a uproarious comedy. But for a Caucasian audience, Dear White People might be viewed as a wake-up call that would best be appreciated by liberal use of the stop button on a DVD so that the fast and brainy dialog can sink in. Or perhaps everyone will want the mythical book about how Blacks can survive in an Ivy League school! MH