"Under the Hood" Documentary Analysis Essay

The documentary Under The Hood, A Voyage Into World Of Torture is a story of tragic events that were kept secret. The documentary Under the Hood, a Voyage into the World of Torture retraces the stories of people who were illegally tortured by democratic convinced of their absolute right to do so. It tells the unknown stories of the victims of a new barbarity and gives a human face to the suffering. The documentary starts with a video of the military covering people's heads, one victim described what it's like to have their head covered up for periods. He says “You have no sense of daylight, you don’t know what’s happening.” Hearing him say that is terrible because that feeling of uncertainty is horrible. Someone else said when there under the hood it made them feel “alone and vulnerable. The documentary later talks about an ex-military soldier named Mourad Benchellai whose story is sad to hear. Mourad Benchellais's brother suggested he take advantage of a summer camp being offered in Afghanistan, the idea sounded appealing. The older brother had gone already and said that all the information about the Taliban in the news was fake. He described how hard it was to be a military soldier. He then talks about what happened on the tragic day of 911. In school when you learned about 911 you learn about the American point of view and the victims of it, this documentary shows the terrorist point of view which was terrible. He is still depressed and sad from his time in the military. The documentary later shows the stories of the prisoners. One example that I found horrible is that they were forcing them to take pills or they would get beaten. The war prisoners were restrained and they were bleeding from their wrist. It showed photos of prisoners in their cages and it was a graphic thing to see. You can see the people in the photo losing hope and the military is enjoying it. He is still depressed and sad from his time in the military. The prisoners were also subjected to mental torture, they played loud music and flashing lights on their faces and which made them disorientated. Hearing these stories was a terrible thing to hear, I can’t imagine what they felt during those times. Another victim shared his stories of what it was like. Said Nabi Sidiqy, an Iraqi police sergeant, arrived at work and was taken by surprise. He was stripped of his police uniform, blindfolded, and led away. Abused, sexually tormented, and nearly beaten to death, his torture lasted 15 days during which he was asked, Which warlords do you know? and Do you know Fidel Castro?    Jamal Gal was arrested and tied up outside his own home alongside his 94-year-old father. He was held for 10 days during which he was marched hooded. They beat me a lot and did unimaginable things. He was never formally interrogated, but seven or eight Americans took turns beating him up. From there, he was sent hooded and tied for more questioning. The torturers were trying to link him to the Taliban, but he preferred torture to make things up: “I did not want to confess to what I'd never done” he said . After a year of imprisonment, but no further questioning, Gal was told that they could find nothing on his file. He would have been released sooner, but his actual file ended up on the bottom of a pile and forgotten. What made me upset about these stories is that they were torturing them for information just to eventually let them go. The pictures were disturbing aswell,the soilers were smiling over the nude victims tney totured Those people who were tortured will never be the same. Article 14 says “Prisoners of war are entitled in all circumstances to respect for their persons and their honor”.The documentary later says that Ten United States soldiers were sentenced from one to ten years for crimes committed against those prisoners. I’m glad that justice was served because that was unacceptable and they violated their human rights. Watching this was a horrible thing to learn but what I found interesting is it shows the thing that the United States does that does not get acknowledged by the media, we hear about what foreign countries do but not the U.S.