New Line Cinema and Level 1 Entertainment present a 120 minute R rated film for scenes of torture, violence, nudity and language directed by Gavin Hood and starring Reese Witherspoon (Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi), Omar Metwally (Anwar El-Ibrahimi), Aramis Knight (Jeremy El-Ibrahimi), Jake Gyllenhaal (Douglas Freeman), Moa Khouas (Khalid El-Emin), Zineb Oukach (Fatima Fawal), Yigal Naor (Abasi Fawal), Meryl Streep (Corrine Whitman), Bob Gunton (Lars Whitman), Alan Arkin (Senator Hawkins), J.K. Simmons (Lee Mayer), Peter Sargaard (Alan Smith) with Laila Mrabti (Lina Fawal), David Fabrizio (William Dixon) and Rosie Malek-Yonan (Nuru El-Ibrahimi).
Rendition, according to dictionary terms is the act or result of rendering as surrender, translation, performance interpretation. There are many scenes intermingled within this film that all lead up to a climatic ending that plays like the beginning. A family man, Anwar, on his way home from Capt Town South Africa, to his pregnant wife, Isabella and son Jeremy, is forced from his flight and taken into torturous custody. Why? Because he was born an Egyptian and may have ties to a terrorist group.
A suicide bomber takes the lives of several and injures four times as many killed in a public square as a failed attempt to kill Abasi Fawal. His daughter, Fatima, unknowingly blinded by love is dating a young man, Khalid, who happens to be involved with a terrorist group who is out to kill her father. One life lost in the bombing is that of an America who happens to be working in North Africa in search of the terrorists. Upon his death his associate, Douglas Freeman, steps in under the watchful and somewhat blind directional eye of the United States government office lead by Corrine Whitman. Working side by side with Abasi, Douglas is utilized as an observer to overlook the torture of Anwar so that he can report any names back to Corrine in hopes of finding out more terrorist cells in and out of our beloved country.
But questions come in to play in this film about what makes a terrorist. A family man who happens to be of foreign decent living in the United States for twenty years who makes a good living, has a clean record and supports his American wife and children is stripped, water tortured, electrocuted, humiliated, lock in a cell the size of a child's crib for reasons of speculation. During the Clinton administration the government allowed the CIA to move someone covertly because they thought they could be a potential terrorist, locking them away in secret prisons and tortured if not by U.S. authorities than by that of so called middle men for political reasons.
Isabella, played superbly by Reese Witherspoon, seeks a friend of hers in the Senate office leading to questions of the Constitution versus that of the 9/11 commission reports and that of ethically moral justice versus a blind eye to that of a human beings rights. Is the government office afraid to stand up for what is right because they may be considered a "Bin Laden lover"? Personally, every living being other than terrorist would like to see the end of such horrific acts but to what price to the innocent people falsely accused? Does it take the truth being leaked to the press in order for true justice to be served?
There are many questions that evolve throughout this spectacular film that deals with conspiracy, truth and lies. It may be a bit dark and too honest for some but it is brilliantly directed, written and acted. Beautifully scored with emotional music and use of subtitles relevant to the country in which this story takes place, this intriguing thriller takes you beyond your current space in time. Even though the film runs two hours, it truly plays out like a great novel worthy of the time spent in the theatre surrounded by people of all races, religions and overall beliefs.
It seems to be the American way to point the finger these days at the ones most different than ourselves. Of course with just cause due to the times we are faced with in this day and age. Is it also American or for that fact human to do so against those that are truly innocent? Some may see honor in torturing those thought to be guilty but is there honor if they are not and what about if they are your son, daughter, mother or father would you still feel the same way? Albeit there are many fine lines in the human thought process and this remarkable film makes you once again reflect on them and the diverse world in which we live.
Reporting for Talkin' Pets, I'm Jon Patch.