Beneath the Blindfold

Certainly an intelligent and moving document on the effects of torture. The film follows four survivors; a nurse in Africa, a Columbian actor, director and teacher who re-enacts his torture as a theater piece, a US citizen taken prisoner while serving as an independent contractor in Iraq (and who demonstrates that psychological torture can be just as damaging as physical), and a Guatemalan doctor. The specifics of their tribulations vary, but the scars they are left with – mental even more than physical – have much in common.

This is another film that actually could have used a longer running time. Taking only 55 minutes to cover 4 intense stories just doesn't leave enough room to go as deep as I would have liked. We see these people fighting to overcome what they've been through, and at least to some extent succeeding, but getting to know them sand their stories even better, might have made an already effective film even more powerful.

None-the-less, this should be required viewing for anyone who shrugs off the moral issues of torture as a means to an end.