In Our Name

Australia / 2007 / Christopher Tuckfield / 57 mins

Using the Abu Ghraib scandal as a point of reference, In Our Name is a timely discussion on the lengths that post 9/11 democracies will go to in order to stave off real and perceived threats to their national security. The film explores the arguments used to justify the use of torture as a technique in interrogation. It questions, with particular reference to Abu Ghraib, how high-ranking state officials who sanction its use escape punishment while those who execute their orders do not. Featuring poetry read by Ariel Dorfman, In Our Name mixes dramatic re-enactments, and interviews with survivors, thinkers and experts in a visually arresting debate. It pointedly challenges us to consider whether the argument for the use of torture in defense of democracy is any different from the argument for its use by an authoritarian state, and if the answer is yes, In Our Name questions the cost to the values and institutions that are the founding blocks of democracy.