‘Taxi’ director looks to the light

WINNER for outstanding documentary feature, “Taxi to the Dark Side,” a painfully clear-eyed look at the United States policy on torture in Afghanistan and Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, provided the night’s most overtly political commentary -- Jon Stewart’s monologue notwithstanding.

Directed by Alex Gibney and produced by Gibney and Eva Orner, the film features photographs and video footage from Abu Ghraib prison, as well as interviews with military personnel.

In accepting the award, Gibney said, “Here’s to all doc filmmakers,” and went on to dedicate the award to Dilawar, the Afghan cab driver whose death provides the film with its through line and title, and to his own late father, a former Navy interrogator, noting “his fury about what was being done to the rule of law.”

“Taxi to the Dark Side” was one of three nominees that touched on the war in Iraq, but Gibney’s feature was the one that beat out the sizable cult of celebrity around filmmaker Michael Moore, a nominee for his look at the American healthcare system, “Sicko.”

Gibney was also an executive producer of the nominated feature-length documentary “No End in Sight.”

“Taxi to the Dark Side” was originally scheduled to be broadcast on television by the Discovery Channel, but was recently picked up by HBO when Discovery made it clear it would not show the film this year. Gibney wanted the film on television before the November elections.

Gibney concluded his acceptance speech by saying, “Let’s hope we can turn this country around, move away from the dark side and back to the light.”