How do you draw the line between national security and individual rights?  A new movie, developed in collaboration with the law school, sheds fresh insights on the issues so fundamental to the secrecy-shrouded U.S. military tribunals at Guantanamo, Cuba

Field, Mike

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NELLCO Consortium Legal Scholarship Repository

Bringing Military Tribunals into Focus

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I in for ~uantinamo Bay during filming of The Rerponse(above) anor h r i f  Mandvi (below); director Adam Rodgers confers win director of photography Richard Chirolm as actor Eric Brown looks an. I How do you draw the line between national security and individual rights? A new movie, developed in  collaboration with the law school, sheds fresh insights on the issues so fundamental to  the secrecy-shrouded U.S. military tribunals a t  Guantanamo, Cuba. T he prisoner stands before the tribunal in loose-fitting prison scrubs, cheap flip-flops on his feet. His head is covered in an unadorned kufi, the traditional Muslim skullcap. Though both hands are free, his ankles are shackled and chained to the floor. He  faces three judges seated behind a high bench: two men and a woman in American military uniforms. Asked if he understands why he is there, he says yes. He  is a suspected terrorist, accused of working for Al Qaeda. But, he demands, how can I answer this charge? Show me the proof. Give me the name of the person who accuses me. The  judges 1 refuse. That  information is classified. Bv the rules 1 of the combatant status review tribunal, they tell him, they are nor allowed to reveal the evidence against him. $ Seen through the movie camera's lens, the . . tribunal room feels confined and claustrophobic. And yet, for University of Maryland School of I Law students and faculty, the room also seems curiously ... familiar. J D  FALL L O O 8  t should. The terrorist and wd-known Hollywood F the Marines standing guard li" ; over the prisoner is a current student. And ~ r l b e r i s a c o l a l l y t h e k w  , ';,.jl t I school's B$unan Moor Caurtrmm. This g-?!;- _.-:, > p.-, 7. i . I encounter between an accused terrorist >" !*< . . i I and his American military judges is a scene . I  , from The Re~pomk, a 30-minute film shot i o ~ t h e  law school campus last February. I $&ergreleased later this year, says the film's +-' - I wnter and producer Sig Lihowia '07, , , ~  audiences for the first time ever will be able to see and hear for themselves what i s  + z ~ i b o w i u ,  who enjoyed a successful on inside the United States nals in Guantanamo, Cuba. ** .- u -  -; w:er as an actor, writer and production exhtive before becoming an attorney ~- ~* - .  (audiences will recognize him from recur- -- ring role~ on The Soprrmos and Law B Or&), was inspired to write the script for The &yonre after taking an eye-opening dass in the university's Center for Health 8 and Homeland Secunty with professor diream Michael G~eenberger. to realize that we are at the f a  great and fundamental constitutional moment," says Libowiu of Asetckiwefssketch wthe. the with extra Rama Taib '18 (blow); ! Hulgrew and Sig Libawitz 'I I his experience in Greenberger's Homeland San i ty  and the Law of Counter-Terrorism class. The class led Lihowia. frustrated and fascinated by a subject matter where there is little in the way of settled law and not even a standard textbook, down a Kak-esque legal research rrail which he called "eye opening." "W~th the guidance of Professor Greenberger and others, I found in the pubhc domain copies of a d  tribunals from Guantanamo and I thought, wharj more fundamental than the balance between constitutional [rights] and national security!" And, Libowiu knav from expe- rience, what better an form to explore a fundamental conflict than the movies? "Sig's script is very good at defining the essendal elemenrs of this matter in scark detail," says Greenberger, who served as a consulrant and technical advisor on the project. "The war on terror has caused us to think about the kind of dings that the founding Fathers were thinking about in 1789. When laws appear to deny the nghrs to get into the federal courts, we are revis- iting the most fundamental legal issues." Something in the subject matter hit a nerve. The actors, many of the crew, even some of the equipment rentalsall came to the project at greatly reduced or no fees. The f h  stars Peter Jhegert (whose credits indude Animal How), Kate M u l g ~ m  (known to millions as Captain Kathryn Janeway in the long-running "Star T-k: @y@r) and Aasif Mandvi (well-known as a 'hews correspondent" on The DQily Sbm with Jon Stnudrt). Sc~eenwriter L~howiez appears as one of rhe three judges. The talented crew includes an Emmy-award winning director. cinematographer and sound mixer. "and the fact that the film is not an agit- prop piece carering to either side. Tbat's not lnreresting and doesn't further the debate. We want to tell a riveting mumoom drama with accurate ambiguity and mystery. We want to bring an audience inm the actual decision-making process of these three military judges. Here are the issues, here are the legal and moral quandaries, here's this detainee and his stoty. Go." The movie is being produced-on a proverbial shoestring budget-with the help of the law school and its "Linking Law and the Arts" series (generously funded by a grant from the Fmce  Merrick Foundauon), which in the past has funded other innovative explorations of critical legal issues through the prism of the contemporary am. "The idea behind the program is to tackle complex problems facing our society by using the arts to provoke meaningful conversation," says law school Dean Karen Rothenberg. "Previously we've brought together faculty from different areas to use readings, live theater, and even sculpture to examine issues ranging from segregation to domestic violence. But rather than just viewing art and talking about art, this is the first time we have actually supported the creation of art. The Reponre represents the next level of this project." The Respom has been selected for a number of film festivals and offered for television distribution. "In all of these projects w e b  done, the one principle we've demanded is that there must be a strong Rochenberg. "People may have strong feelings about the subject matter, but we want to do some- thing that enables them to think their positions through." One use she hoper to see for the completed film is as a teaching tool, widely available to other colleges and universiues. While a law school helping to make a movie may be unusual, movies that help us to understand difficult legal issues are not. Law school professor and resident law in film expert Taunya Lowll Banks notes that the lawyer genre film has a long pedigree in Hollywood. "These kinds of movies are popular because they are good story telling devices," she says. "But until recently people took these stories as stories, not as educational devices. Now that seems to be changing." There are profound legal, political and ethical issues involved in denying ce&in persons access to the legal system by declaring them "enemy combatants." Greenherger says one purpose of the film is to illustrate for the ordinary citizen exactly what this means. During the rehearsal process he met with the actors to discuss the underlying issues at stake. "Peter Riegert asked me, 'What is habeas colpur!' and I thought, now here is this very bright On Screen The Resoonse has been selected for numerous film festivals. includina three " Academy Award-qualifying festivals. Recent and upcoming events include: . LA Shorts Fest, Aug. 21 Palm Springs Short Fest, Aug. 24 . Virginia Film Festival, Oct. 30-Nov. 2 In addition, UMLaw graduates and friends are invited to a special Baltimore screening on the evening of Oct. 22. For more information, and to RSVP, visit www.law,umaryland.edu/response. fundamental question about how the system works," he says. "The right to appear before a judge and learn about the evidence against you is an essential element of the American Republic. We've become so accustomed to this idea that we really don't think about it anymore. This movie asks us to start thinking about it again." The prisoner in The Rerpom+pIayed by Aasif Mandvi-never learns the specific evidence against him. But the details of his background and activities suggest the possibility that he might be an Al Qaeda operative, Later, in a cramped office, the three officers struggle to come to a decision. Should the prisoner be classified an enemy combatant, and held without recourse indefinitely? How do you draw the line henveen national security and individual rights? Theirs is not a task undertaken lightly. "Our response is what matters," Reigert's character says. "The response defines us." This is such a compelling issue and people are intrigued hut don't know a lot hout it," says Libowitz. "When they see he film, they very often say 'I bad no dea.' I tell them 'Neither did I, until I ead the transcripts.' O n  one level this novie is a simple courtroom drama: Did le or didn't he? But at another level this is hout issues people will be fighting over n d  reading about and analyzing far into he future. And we're living it right now. low exciting is that!" 4ike Field ir a journalist andplay-hr who liver n Baltimore 

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Bringing Military Tribunals into Focus

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