Big Storm: The Lynndie England Story

In May of 2004, photographs in which American soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison rapidly spread all around the world. In the pictures of the naked and exhausted Iraqis, which shocked the worldwide public and increased disagreement with the American intervention in Iraq, there often appeared, in addition to several male American soldiers, one woman: Lynndie England. It is precisely these pictures, in which the young woman smiles as she poses near a pile of naked bodies, mockingly pointing to the genitalia of the prisoners, or in which Lynndie holds a leash attached to a bound and prostrate man, that aroused the most attention and outrage. This film from the Netherlands is a portrait of a woman who does not feel any responsiblity for her actions, and does not have the feeling that she did anything wrong. She defends herself by saying she was only following the orders of her superiors.