The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker
by Cullen Gallagher
“I’m not Clint Eastwood, I’m not James Bond, I’m Yunis Khatayer Abbas,” clarifies Yunis towards the end of The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair, a documentary that explores just how unclear that statement was to American military intelligence in Iraq. In directors Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein’s previous film Gunner Palace, Yunis can be spotted as he and his four brothers are arrested during a nighttime raid by American soldiers. Using this as an impetus, in The Prisoner, Tucker and Epperlein investigate Yunis’ wrongful arrest and subsequent interrogation and holding in Abu Ghraib. The result is — and for once this clichéd expression seems quite appropriate — a Kafkaesque exploration of the ironic loss of freedom during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
One of the film’s boldest moves — and certainly its most controversial element — is its use of comic book-style illustrations. Unlike Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ The Road To Guantanamo, which uses reenactments to replicate the horrors of Guantanamo Bay, The Prisoner takes a step away from traditional realism and fully embraces artificiality: the visuals are not realistic and they’re not graphic; in fact, they’re other worldly and, at times, humorous. But they never once undermine the story being told, and in fact contribute greatly to the pervasive surreality of Yunis’ nightmarish experience.
Opens March 23 at Cinema Village
One of the film’s boldest moves — and certainly its most controversial element — is its use of comic book-style illustrations. Unlike Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’ The Road To Guantanamo, which uses reenactments to replicate the horrors of Guantanamo Bay, The Prisoner takes a step away from traditional realism and fully embraces artificiality: the visuals are not realistic and they’re not graphic; in fact, they’re other worldly and, at times, humorous. But they never once undermine the story being told, and in fact contribute greatly to the pervasive surreality of Yunis’ nightmarish experience.
Opens March 23 at Cinema Village
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