Pluskylang Great Film overall

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Claudio Carvalho In the aftermath of the September, 11th, in China, the American student Linda Sykes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is interrogated by the military Liu Tsung- Yuan (Ken Leung). In New York, the Arab student Sharif Bin Said (Bruno Lastra) is interrogated by the FBI agent Karen Moore (Glenn Close). The psychological methods of interrogation are the same, amicable in the beginning and brutal in the end; but there is no evidence that the students are terrorists. Must security and safety of the State come at the price of freedom?"Strip Search" is a film directed by Sidney Lumet with the same dialogs and situations in two totally different countries, with two students that might be connected to terrorist networks being interrogated at the same time. The movie shows that torture does not depend of the country and the importance of civil liberties to the individuals. I lived a great part of my life in a dictatorship and I know the importance of freedom and democracy. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Inspeção Geral" ("General Inspection")

nitin_bhan The movie is really a very very well made one with the parallels between two plots. It brings out the question-"is subjecting a foreigner to inhuman torture and trauma and humiliation right in one country and wrong in another country?" For protecting one's country and people against terrorism, if the police can do anything to the foriegners, then any other country has the same rights.I saw the movie on HBO and it was quite an eye opener on what can happen to a foriegner in some other country. The movie might have been an exaggeration, but then similar things have been reported in past.The best parts of the movie were the 3-4 clips in between of various us presidents talking about freedom and democracy provided by their nation to their own citizens and also to the world.

ankhdragon2002 In the post 9/11 world, fear has been indoctrinated into most aspects of our lives. Governments worldwide manipulated and capitalized on this for their own gain - financially, politically and strategically. The Bush-driven Patriot Act has seen many people (guilty and otherwise no doubt) detained, tortured and dehumanized. Since a large percentage of the population are unaware that political agendas of media owners exist, they passively believe what they see on their nightly TV news or read in their daily newspapers. They are taught to fear the unknown, to trust their leaders implicitly (because they use nice words in speeches like 'freedom' and 'family') and not to question motives.'Strip Search' is a deliberate attempt to throw the light of reality into this collective 'un'consciousness.The storyline involves parallel stories of two people being detained in custody: an American woman in China, and a Middle Eastern man in the US. By using almost exactly the same dialogue, we are shown how to think outside the usual spectrum, and to feel compassion for both people. Without the twin story of the American woman, people would undoubtedly walk away from this feel feeling a lot differently.The acting is astonishing. One feels that this film meant more than just another job to the actors involved. I admire them immensely for their efforts.Hopefully this film will change a few minds, and that as a result - the world might become just that little bit better.

jennifer-alicarty This film begins in a classroom with a professor asking his students if it was acceptable to give up your rights for 1 day if the government could guarantee that it could get rid of terrorism. He then proceeds to ask the same question, but extending the time period from 1 day to 10 years.The director then examines two identical situations differing only in their location. The first scenario is of an American woman being hooded, and then abducted by Chinese security forces and then taken to an unknown location where she is asked some uncomfortable questions. The second scenario is of the same thing happening to an Arab man (they never really say which country he's from) being hooded and abducted and taken to an FBI building where he's questioned.This film is effective in asking the viewer whether the US wishes to fight any war in a manner similar to how Communist China (with no supposed civil freedoms) fights a War on Terror. Additionally, the viewer is asked whether civil liberties which have taken many decades of struggle to obtain and keep are so worthless that they can be discarded for any period of time. One of the most ironic parts of the movie is that the quote by Thomash Jefferson "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." is used by the Arab suspect in his political science thesis and then the FBI agent questioning him asks whether the use of this statement is a call to violent dissent.The problem with this film is that both scenarios use precisely the same dialog and this while initially effective gets pretty boring at the end. Also in pre-Abu Ghraib world people could be happy at the realism of the level of abuse that both parties experience, but we now know that a lot worse can and does happen.I can understand why this film isn't shown more in the US, no-one wants our country compared to Communist China, and certainly not at this time. Whether this is a valid point for not showing the film is debatable.