Detainee 001: 'The American Taliban' John Walker Lindh
Factual America
English - October 26, 2021 07:18 - 53 minutes - 123 MBFilm Interviews TV & Film americanhistory hbo society usa academyawards amazon america americanculture americanexperience americansociety Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
A young man from the San Francisco suburbs journeys to the Middle East and soon finds himself as the face of Islamist extremism in post-9/11 America. This is the story of John Walker Lindh, as explored in the recent Showtime hit documentary Detainee 001.
Emmy-winning director Greg Barker joins us to discuss this unlikeliest of stories. The film shows how America grapples with justice in the fog of war, and how narratives were built and destroyed in the aftermath of 9/11.
We discuss the misconceptions people have about John Walker Lindh, the life of freelance war journalists, and how Greg has managed to gain access to high-profile subjects over the years.
“They all either got totally hooked on the adrenaline of war reporting, or they had a moment where they thought, I don’t want to get killed.” - Greg Barker
Time Stamps: 00:00 - The trailer for Detainee 001.03:23 - What the film is about and how people responded to John Walker Lindh.
07:05 - The misconceptions that were pushed by the media about this man.
10:22 - The vilification of Muslims in America.
12:39 - How Greg accessed the footage for the film.
18:22 - The freelance journalists that risked their lives to document the Taliban.
22:04 - Why it was so difficult to get people to talk about the John Walker Lindh case.
25:27 - Why Lindh joined the Taliban and the links he has to Malcolm X.
27:21 - Where John Walker Lindh is and the difficulties Greg had in contacting him.
30:57 - Why Greg wanted to make this film.
32:06 - How he knew the Taliban would regain power in Afghanistan.
35:33 - How he gains access to such high-profile subjects.
42:36 - The next projects Greg is working on.
44:15 - The shift in the type of documentaries that are getting commissioned. Resources:
Detainee 001
White Coat Rebels
MovieMaker Magazine
Innersound Audio
Alamo Pictures
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