Camp X-Rayby Wilson Morales
If you happened to have seen Kathyrn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, you got a glimpse as to the conditions that detainees go through while at Guantanamo Bay, the US military prison located in Cuba. It’s not a pretty site what these guys go through, but fictional or not, a good amount of research was done to present a plausible scenario.
In first-time writer-director Peter Sattler’s X-Ray, Kristen Stewart plays a young military officer who befriends a detainee at Guantanamo Bay (aka Gitmo) and throughout their time there, each goes to an identity crisis as they stand on the opposite sides of justice. Despite the film being slowly paced with some flaws, its subject is worth telling and heightened by standout performances from Stewart and Payman Moaadi (‘A Seperation’).
Amy Cole (Kristen Stewart) is new to the Army, coming from a small and trying to find where she fits in society. Being in Guantanamo Bay is certainly not the place where she should get ideas but it does offer a lot about life. Being a woman, she has to work twice not to let her gender get in the way of what needs to be done. Being a prison guard, she’s able to one of the guys, talk tough, drink beer and so on, until one of the detainees Ali (Peyman Moaadi) gets to her emotions, which is where she questions her beliefs of right and wrong.
Throughout the eight years he’s been incarcerated, Ali’s been through it all, from the beatings and torture and then comes along Amy. Initially treating her like the other guards, Ali goes a bit deep with Amy, so much as calling her names and then throwing his bowel remains at her when he can’t get the final Harry Potter book. As much as she tries to shrug it off, she does become concern when Ali’s taken away for his actions on her. While another subplot involving her commanding officer, Corporal Ransdell (Lane Garrison) is taking shape, it’s really her relationship with Ali is where the focus of the film is headed and whether both Amy and Ali will get better in life through their communication.
In between The Twilight films, Stewart was just another young actress with roles in Adventureland, Welcome to the Rileys, and The Runaways, but since the franchise has ended, she’s been working hard to re-invent herself and with a role like this as well as the upcoming ‘Clouds of Sils Maria’ and ‘Still Alice,’ early buzz is that she’s on her way to doing such. She and her character Amy, are both figuring a new path in life, working to be taken serious amongst her peers. Her acting is strong, compelling, and affecting.
Moaadi, the star of Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning Iranian domestic drama “A Separation,” is just as strong; offering more dimensions than Stewart but able to balance them out between being dramatic, sympathetic, and at times comedic. While Stewart and Moaadi are both engaging, the same can’t be said for the others prisoners, and there lies in some of the flaws of the film. Sattler doesn’t give much of the prisoners to do but yell out and be disgusted by the system they are going through. At the same time, John Carroll Lynch is also moving enough to point out that where they are and this is what happens, so leave the emotions at home. What Camp X-Ray offers is a character study of the human heart and how it’s tested under certain circumstances from both those in command and those detains. It’s a recommended film from a newcomer director who brought out solid, genuine, and compelling performances from its two leads.
