The film Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush, by Andreas Dresen, recreates the experience of Murat Kurnaz, imprisoned between 2002 and 2006 at the Guantanamo Naval Base, in Cuban territory illegally occupied by the U.S.

The film Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush, by German director Andreas Dresen, which is currently participating in the Berlin International Film Festival, Berlinale, recreates the experiences of Murat Kurnaz, imprisoned between 2002 and 2006 at the Guantanamo Naval Base – in Cuban territory illegally occupied by the United States – without ever being informed of the charges against him.
According to Prensa Latina, the director explained that he became interested in this story when he saw Kurnaz interviewed on television after being released from prison, and read his book Five Years of My Life. Dresen said: “I was shocked.”
The film takes the perspective of the inmate’s mother (Rabiye), a woman who fought for her son until she was able bring him back to Germany, and whose story offers hope in the midst of the cruelty suffered by Kurnaz.
With human rights lawyer Bernhard Docke, played by Alexander Scheer, the mother (Meltem Kaptan) fights for her son’s release all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.
Included in the competitive section of the Festival’s 72nd edition, the film is competing, along with 17 others, for one of the Festival’s Bears. Winners are to be announced September 16.