[Review] Camp X-Ray
This review was originally published as part of our Sundance Film Festival 2014 coverage. It is being re-posted to coincide with the film's limited release.
Camp X-Ray
Director: Peter Sattler
Rating: N/A
Release Date: January 17, 2014 (Sundance)
Guantanamo Bay still serves as a dark footnote in American history more than a decade after its establishment. Everything about the detention camp, from its mistreatment of its "detainees" to the very reason for its existence, is inhumane and utterly sickening. Camp X-Ray is about one specific camp, the titular Camp X-Ray, which served as a temporary detention center in the Guantanamo Bay. Writer/director Peter Sattler's film attempts to humanize both guard and detainee alike.
Amy Cole (Kristen Stewart) is a recently-assigned rookie guard at Guantanamo Bay. While she's cordial and friendly with the other guards, it's with a Gitmo detainee, Ali (Peyman Moaadi), who Cole makes a real connection with. The relationship starts on a frosty tip, Cole the newcomer and Ali the years-long detainee. The dynamic of their friendship, as is made evident early on, revolves around this dichotomy between the two where their individual situations are more common than meets the eye.
Unfortunately, Camp X-Ray is bogged down by stereotypes, ranging from the power-hungry superior officer to the young, naive solder who inevitably falls in line. In a way, the shallow characterization of the supporting cast helps accentuate the focus on both Cole and Ali and their friendship. However, the emotional crux of the film relies on Stewart's performance, which oftentimes showed the potential and range she displayed in Into the Wild, yet is unable to tap into here. When it comes time for Cole to move past her hardened soldier demeanor and show true human emotion, Stewart falters. Whether it was Sattler's direction to keep Stewart reined in to maintain the aforementioned toughness, or simply Stewart's inability to let go, it was hard to look past this one low scene in a film otherwise full of high praise for the actress.
Camp X-Ray doesn't attempt to make much of a political statement, nor does it attempt to excuse the accusations of inhumane treatment that took place at Guantanamo Bay. What it does do, however, is explore a poignant, unlikely friendship between captor and captured, guard and detainee. Sattler, at times, holds audiences hands as he pontificates the similarities between Cole and Ali, which can be frustrating. However, strong performances by Moaadi and Stewart (the aforementioned scene notwithstanding) are enough to overlook the otherwise easy storytelling.
[Trailer 2] Camp X-Ray
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I'm more than a little excited for Camp X-Ray's release in a couple of weeks. As I mentioned in my review of the film at this year's Sundance Film Festival, the Guantanamo Bay-set drama features great performances from its leads Kristen Stewart and Peyman Moaadi that cinephiles will love. Stewart detractors would even give the actress props for her portrayal of a Guantanamo Bay guard at wits between her position and her budding friendship with a detainee.
Camp X-Ray will be in theaters on October 17. You can read the film's synopsis below.
A young woman joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small town roots. But she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay instead, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and aggressive squadmates, she strikes up an unusual friendship with one of the detainees. A story of two people, on opposite sides of a war, struggling to find their way through the ethical quagmire of Guantanamo Bay. And in the process, they form an unlikely bond that changes them both.
[Trailer] Camp X-Ray
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I'm a huge Kristen Stewart fan, Twilight films notwithstanding. My faith in her acting ability was somewhat justified this past winter with her Sundance film, Camp X-Ray, which ended up being one of my favorite films of the entire festival. In the film, Stewart plays a guard assigned to Guantanamo Boy where she must watch over detainees. However, while the rest of her squad mates overexert their power, she strikes a friendship with one of the detainees, played by Peyman Maadi (A Separation). As their secret friendship grows and they begin to learn more about one another, the lines separating the two becomes thinner.
Camp X-Ray will be in theaters and on VOD October 28th. You can read the film's full synopsis below.
A young woman joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small town roots. But she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay instead, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and aggressive squadmates, she strikes up an unusual friendship with one of the detainees. A story of two people, on opposite sides of a war, struggling to find their way through the ethical quagmire of Guantanamo Bay. And in the process, they form an unlikely bond that changes them both.
New Images of Kristen Stewart in Guantanamo Bay Drama, Camp X-Ray
One of the very first films I screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival was Camp X-Ray, an independent drama written and directed by Peter Sattler that starred Krisen Stewart as a rookie guard at Guantanamo Bay befriending and sympathizing with a detainee at the camp. Stewart's gotten a lot of flak over the years because of her "limited" acting range, but she's shown signs of her true talent outside of the Twilight films (namely in Into the Wild). Camp X-Ray helps to further illustrate what the young actress is capable of, as I singled out her performance as a true shining pillar in my review.
While the film doesn't have a US release date set, IFC Films holds the distribution rights, raising the chances that it'll be released to a wider audience by the end of the year. New stills from the film have been released that help shape Camp X-Ray's tone, albeit they're mostly of Stewart in her guard uniform and Payman Maadi behind bars. Hopefully, when Camp X-Ray is released, audiences will see and understand Stewart's real acting prowess outside of the grim image that Twilight left on everybody's minds.
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