Taxi to the Dark Side

Taxi to the Dark Side is an Academy Award winning 2007 documentary film directed by American filmmaker Alex Gibney. The film focuses around the controversial death in custody of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar. Dilawar was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention at the Bagram Air Base. Taxi to the Dark Side also goes on to examine America's policy on torture and interrogation in general, specifically the CIA's use of torture and their research into sensory deprivation. There is description of the opposition to the use of torture from its political and military opponents, as well as the defence of such methods; the attempts by Congress to uphold the standards of the Geneva Convention forbidding torture; and the popularisation of the use of torture techniques in shows such as 24. (US 2007, 106min, Watch online)

The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom

The Trap is a series of three films by Bafta-winning producer Adam Curtis that explains the origins of our contemporary, narrow idea of freedom. It shows how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today's idea of freedom. This model was derived from ideas and techniques developed by nuclear strategists during the Cold War to control the behaviour of the Soviet enemy. (UK 2007, 180min, Watch online)

Threads

Threads is a 1984 BBC docudrama depicting the effects of a nuclear war on the UK. The story focuses on two families beginning nearly three months before the attack. We watch their lifestyle and their reactions, first as fighting erupts and escalates, then as the UK places itself on a war footing, and eventually as bombing commences. We then follow family members as they face the consequences of a nuclear war. The film concludes thirteen years after the attack, as civilization rebuilds to a stage like the early Industrial Era. (UK 1984, 112min, Watch online)

Bill Moyer's Journal: Buying The War

Four years ago on May 1, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln and delivered a speech in front of a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner. Despite profound questions and the increasing violence in Baghdad, many in the press confirmed the White House's claim that the war was won. How did they get it so wrong? How did the evidence disputing the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11 continue to go largely unreported? (USA 2007, 85min, Watch online)

Koppel on Discovery: Our Children's Children's War

If you expect the War on Terror to end with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, or with the establishment of a stable government in Afghanistan, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise. While the eyes of the world focus on those conflicts, the U.S. military is fighting an unconventional war that could last generations. Widely known as the "War on Terror," the outgoing commander of the U.S. military's Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, refers to it as "The Long War." Ted Koppel presents an in-depth special report on a war that may last longer than any in which the U.S. has been involved before. (USA 2007, 44min)

Koppel on Discovery: Iran - The Most Dangerous Nation

For his second Discovery Channel special in 2006, Koppel plans to take viewers to Iran 27 years after American hostages were seized in Tehran. He looks at the historical reasons for Iranians’ suspicions and for their support of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s refusal to halt Iran’s nuclear program. He will also explore Iranians' perspectives on Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel. (USA 2006, 87min)

the fifth estate: The Denial Machine

In the past few years, a hurricane has engulfed the debate about global warming. This scientific issue has become a rhetorical firestorm with science pitted against spin and inflammatory words on both sides.How could scientific fact, which many believe could determine the very future of the planet, become a political battleground, pitting left versus right, environmentalist versus climate change sceptic? The Denial Machine investigates the roots of the campaign to negate the science and the threat of global warming. It tracks the activities of a group of scientists, some of whom previously consulted for for Big Tobacco, and who are now receiving donations from major coal and oil companies. (CA 2005, 40min, Watch online)