A Big Story in a Little Film

A former Guantánamo prisoner and a U.S. Navy investigator reunite in “Leaving Hotel California”

For those of us who have long witnessed the story of injustice at Guantánamo Bay, the idea of making a film whose message sparks feelings of humanity and hope may seem like an impossible feat. Yet the new short documentary, Leaving Hotel California, directed by Dutch filmmakers Aybuke Demirel and Chimène de Jonge, does just that. Rather than a story laden solely with sadness and indignation, we have a compelling vignette whose lasting lesson is that even when the past is strewn with cruelty and injustice, the human spirit can overcome the searing scars of the past.