Documentary Theater and Film

I saw Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo's new political play Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom a week ago at the Culture Project in Manhattan and have been meaning to write about it.

It certainly is a powerful play, based entirely on testimony given by former detainees and their families and supporters. They paint a picture of Kafkaesque horror, and really dispel any notion that this prison is a crucial part of the so-called war on terror. If anything, it seems more like a dumping ground where miscellaneous people caught up in the dragnet get sent; the truly important prisoners do not end up in Guantanamo.

My only reservation about the play as a political statement is its limited reach to an audience of the already converted. I'm not sure I can recommend it if you are already outraged by Guantanamo. You might be better off sending your $40 to some grassroots organization working to get out the vote against Bush in November.

I also saw the independent documentary The Fourth World War at Anthology Film Archives in the East Village. Talk about preaching to the converted, this one preaches to the bishop. No clearer example of pre-9/11 anti-globalization thinking adamantly refusing to update itself in order to articulate, understand, and oppose the war we are actually in right now. And no, simply saying "9/11 makes our analysis even more relevant than before" doesn't count.