Slahi does not want to relive the worst moments of his captivity and so he avoided watching the most traumatic scenes in the film. But now that his book has been turned into a great movie, he believes it is a clear example that the pen is more powerful than the sword. “I don’t believe in violence, but my whole story was violence against my body, my innocence, members of my family and I never did anything for the United States,” he says. “My film is a victory of non-violence, it is a victory of the pen.”
The fact is, however, that although many films, documentaries, TV shows, books and news have shown the reality of the prison camp, it still remains open. The Obama administration promised to close it and failed. Now President Biden has said he plans to close it before his first term ends. So, with a new president in the Oval Office, could The Mauritanian be the Guantanamo Bay film to announce the end of the detention center?
Rahim wants the audience to take away the message of “hope and forgiveness about anger”, while Eviatar says: “all the films that depict the Guantánamo tragedy, the unfair and often random way in which many men ended up there, and thus pressured the US government to close, is doing a great job. “
Slahi, who continues to be denied entry to the United States and the United Kingdom five years after his release from Guantánamo Bay, without any compensation or excuses, hopes that the film will show the Western world that he is an innocent man and that negative perceptions of the Middle East and the citizens of North Africa must end.
“I want people to know my side of the story [and] I feel humble about being made into a great movie, “he says.” I have no weapons, I have no police. I don’t have drones to get people out, but I have my words and I want to debate negative exceptionalism [towards] the Arab world and Africa. We cannot be kidnapped; we cannot be tortured. “
The Mauritian is in select United States theaters now and will be available on demand from March 2. It will be released in the UK on April 1st.
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