''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib'' is a 2007 documentary film, directed by Rory Kennedy, that examines the events of the 2004 Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. The film premiered January 19, 2007, at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Content

This documentary was the first to feature Iraqi victims (interviewed in Turkey) as well as guards who were directly involved in the torture in the prison. In the film, director Rory Kennedy examines how "ordinary soldiers" were capable of such acts. The film presents the

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

as the result of military and government policies implemented in a climate of fear and chaos, inadequate training and inadequate resources. Using these interviews, the film traces the events that led to the scandal, beginning with the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Using footage from the Milgram experiment in the 1960s at Yale, the film suggests that most people are capable of committing inhumane acts against other people when ordered to do so.

Distribution

The film aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on February 22, 2007. It was also shown at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival on March 23, 2007, at the Cleveland International Film Festival on March 25, 2007 and at the Oslo International Film Festival on November 17, 2007. Working Films coordinated the US national community engagement campaign with ''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib''. It brought together the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. T ...

, faith groups, and others to end US policy sanctioning torture.

Critical reception

The film attracted some interest in media and was discussed extensively. The film was nominated for four Emmys at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Nonfiction Special, Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, and Outstanding Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (Single or Multi-Camera). It won the award for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES 59TH ANNUAL PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS
Retrieved September 16, 2007

References

External links

(at archive.org)
Filminfo by IMDB

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''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib''
at

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''Mother Jones'' review of ''Ghosts of Abu Ghraib''
{{EmmyAward Documentary Special American documentary films Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse Documentary films about the Iraq War 2007 documentary films Documentary films about torture 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films