We set out to examine the context of these photographs. Why were they taken? What was happening outside the frame? We talked directly to the soldiers who took the photographs and who were in the photographs. Who are these people? What were they thinking? Over two years of investigation, we amassed a million and a half words of interview transcript, thousands of pages of unredacted reports, and hundreds of photographs.
The story of Abu Ghraib is still shrouded in moral ambiguity, but it is clear what happened there. The Abu Ghraib photographs serve as both an expose and a coverup. An expose, because the photographs offer us a glimpse of the horror of Abu Ghraib; and a coverup because they convinced journalists and readers they had seen everything, that there was no need to look further. In recent news reports, we have learned about the destruction of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation tapes. A coverup. It has been front page news. But the coverup at Abu Ghraib involved thousands of prisoners and hundreds of soldiers. We are still learning about the extent of it. Many journalists have asked about “the smoking gun” of Abu Ghraib. It is the wrong question. As Philip Gourevitch has commented, Abu Ghraib is the smoking gun. The underlying question that we still have not resolved, four years after the scandal: how could American values become so compromised that Abu Ghraib—and the subsequent coverup—could happen?
Presented by SONY PICTURES CLASSICS & PARTICIPANT MEDIA
Produced & Directed by...ERROL MORRIS
Produced by...JULIE BILSON AHLBERG
Executive Producers...JEFF SKOLL, DIANE WEYERMANN, MARTIN LEVIN, JULIA SHEEHAN, ROBERT FERNANDEZ
Directors of Photography...ROBERT CHAPPELL, ROBERT RICHARDSON
Edited by...ANDY GRIEVE, STEVEN HATHAWAY, DAN MOONEY
Production Designer...STEVE HARDIE
Music by...DANNY ELFMAN
Awards:
Jury Grand Prize, 2008
- Berlin Film Festival
