It takes guts to pick up a movie titled "The Road to Guantanamo." The title says it all: This film deals with a subject most Americans would rather not think about -- the nameless terrorist suspects being held without trial, many for more than four years, at the notorious U.S. Army prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But often, it seems, a movie with a strong political point-of-view -- like the documentary hits "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "An Inconvenient Truth" -- can generate enough controversy to gain audience support.

"These movies show that there are untapped wellsprings of political feeling for the right movie at the right time," says Roadside Attractions partner Howard Cohen, who is opening "Guantanamo" on 11 screens in five cities today.

British directors Michael Winterbottom ("24 Hour Party People") and Mat Whitecross (the short "Job Street") directed the hybrid docudrama, which blends dramatic re-enactments (filmed in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran) with documentary footage. The film includes interviews with the three teenage British Muslims, known as the Tipton Three, who were arrested while in Afghanistan to attend a wedding in 2001 and detained for two years without ever being formally charged. Unlike many of their fellow detainees, they were able to communicate with their captors in English. But that doesn't mean that anyone believed what they said. The movie depicts the horrors of what they went through: bags on their heads, shackles on their ankles and wrists, hostile interrogations, beatings, sleep and food deprivation, isolation. After two nightmarish years at Guantanamo, the three men were sent back home.

The movie has become more timely since Eric d'Arbeloff, a partner at Roadside Attractions, attended its world premiere in February at the Berlin International Film Festival, where Winterbottom and Whitecross won the Silver Bear for best director. After his partner Cohen saw the film in Los Angeles and after considerable debate, they finally acquired North American rights to the Channel Four film in March for "low six figures," Cohen says. "We had huge concerns: Is it a movie that Americans will want to see? I thought it was a great film, done in a very visceral and fast-paced style, like a thriller or horror movie, by an acclaimed international filmmaker."

But while Winterbottom is well-liked on the film festival circuit, that has not translated into a huge stateside following. Only two of his 15 features, "Party People" and "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," have grossed more than $1 million. "We're not depending on Winterbottom's name to sell the movie," Cohen says. "He has added credibility with the press. We felt there was art house potential with such a galvanizing subject. It's a combination of people being drawn to the message and drawn to the movie."

In the plus column for the film, Roadside figured, was likely support from reviewers and press -- always a must when trying to grab audience attention for a small indie with no TV ad budget. The partners decided to push the film into release as soon as possible. "It was about getting out fast," Cohen says. On June 10, Roadside got more than they bargained for, sadly, when the news broke that three Guantanamo detainees had committed suicide. "We felt something would break at Guantanamo, because things were building up," Cohen says. "But this was unfortunate."

During the barrage of news coverage of the suicides, the TV news went straight to the Tipton Three, including ABC's "Nightline" and CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They were interviewed all over the news," Cohen says. "They are the only foreign detainees who are talking about it. They're British and articulate. They've been gone a long enough time to have perspective on it. They're still recovering from the experience."

As editorial pieces break in such major papers as the New York Times, the Tipton Three and their movie also are getting mentions. Several ongoing Guantanamo legal battles will continue to play out as the movie slowly opens nationwide. Roadside is setting up interviews with the trio via phone and satellite because the men have been told never to visit the U.S. It's still too risky for them to leave England; they were heavily questioned when they traveled to the Berlin fest.

Roadside also took full advantage of a related controversy: their poster campaign, which the MPAA deemed inappropriate. When a company submits a movie for a rating, their print materials also have to pass muster, because posters are seen by everyone. While the ratings board gave "Guantanamo" an R, it did not approve the poster, which showed a handcuffed prisoner with a burlap sack over his head. "They said it depicted torture," Cohen says. "Just watch TV or pick up the Washington Post. We did not contest it. Once it happened, we were happy to talk to the press." The controversy generated an AP wire story, among others. The approved version of the poster features a man in handcuffs without a sack on his head.

Big challenges still face the film, though. It is not only tough to sit through, but takes a point-of-view that is both British and harshly critical of the Bush administration and the military's handling of the prisoners. As a straightforward dramatization of their story, the film doesn't enter into a debate on the various sides of the issue. "The audience has to be open-minded and willing to engage on that level," Cohen says. "It's not a traditional documentary on Guantanamo. The movie does not set out to talk about both sides. It succeeds 100% at what it sets out to do. It's a huge eye-opener. The movie is an emotional story about three guys in the wrong place at the wrong time who went into the heart of darkness and survived, despite what our government threw at them. It's a microcosm of what's going on in Guantanamo as well as the war in Iraq."

Cohen is chasing the political angle all the way. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have lent a hand in promoting "Guantanamo" on Web sites and at conferences, and Capitol Hill flack Jamie Shore is charged with wrangling the political press. While Cohen is delighted that the movie got mentioned on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, he has no illusions about who the movie will play to: Democrats. Roadside has hired special operatives to get editorial content onto the Internet: Web sites such as Slate, Salon and the Huffington Post mark the film's sweet spot. "Politically oriented sites are more effective than Internet advertising," he says.

As a small specialty distributor, this is the sort of movie that Roadside traffics in, from "Super Size Me" to "Ladies in Lavender," movies with niche markets that can benefit from grass-roots publicity and word-of-mouth. "This the type of movie that we started the company to do," Cohen says. "Movies that by virtue of what they are both challenge and make a splash."