Institute History
Description
A young woman joins the military to be part of something bigger than herself and her small-town roots. Instead, she ends up as a new guard at Guantanamo Bay, where her mission is far from black and white. Surrounded by hostile jihadists and aggressive squadmates, she strikes up an unusual friendship with one of the detainees. As two people on opposite sides of a war, they struggle to find their way through the ethical quagmire of Guantanamo Bay. In the process, they form an unlikely bond that changes them both.
Intricately constructed, Camp X-Ray is a case study in the power of performance. At still a young age, Kristen Stewart has long been much more than a movie star, and with this nuanced and internal performance, she continues to prove she has serious acting chops. Opposite her, Payman Maadi delivers a riveting performance as a man caught in limbo, reaching out for reason. Burrowing past the politics and into the humanity of the infamous detention camp, writer/director Peter Sattler provides a fresh perspective on the discourse of the war on terrorism and achieves one of the great virtues of film—creating empathy.