Review №2. Rendition

Rendition.

Cast: 

Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal and Omar Metwally.

Director: 

Gavin Hood

Synopsis

When Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally), an Egyptian-American chemical engineer whose family emigrated to the United States, is suspected of a terrorist act, his pregnant wife, Isabella El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon), does everything in her power to find her missing husband, who has seemingly disappeared during a flight from Cape Town, South Africa to Washington, D.C. 

She enlists the help of a politically-connected college friend, Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgard) , an aid to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin), who uncovers the troubling fact that Anwar has been shipped off to a third World country for interrogation on the orders of the CIA's head of terrorism, Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep). 
Isabella and Douglas team up to secure Anwar's release from a secret detention facility somewhere in the Middle East.

Review

The story centers on the sudden arrest of the chemical engineer of the Egyptian decent  Anwar El-Ibrahimi . It is caused by the suicide attack kills in South Africa one of the CIA agent and 18 other people. Returning to the US from a conference in South Africa, he is arrested by American officials and sent to a secret detention facility on the suspicion with the links to terrorists.  He is interrogated by Abasi Fawal, the high-ranking police official who used the unorthodox methods during the questioning. Another member of the interrogation is CIA analyst, Douglas Freeman. He begins to doubt not only in the legality of the methods of the questioning, but also in El-Inrahimi’s guilt, but he can’t ground his supposion, having not enough experience in such kind of work. However, at the end of the film, he helps Anwar to escape.  The first story line is the perfect example is how really the democracy works in the modern world and how perfectly the unorthodox methods of interrogation are hidden. (sometimes I just couldn’t watch these scenes – it was too psychologically difficult.). In fact, the government doesn’t have any proves of El-Ibrahimi’s guilt, only a phone-calling, which obviously seems to be not exhaustive explanation. In spite the fact the US is represented themselves as the country without any race or religious discrimination, very often the actions proves the opposite.

At the same time we see a pregnant Anwar’s wife, Isabella, who begins to worry when he doesn’t return home. Hoping to learn something about her missing husband, she comes to the Washington DC to her university colleague Alan Smith. He finds out some facts such as Anwar was not on the flight, while Isabella shows that he purchased something at duty-free shop. Alan tries to contact with the senator and Freeman’s boss in CIA Corrine Whitman but he is advised to live the matter alone. Smith gives up and just gives Isabella advise to find the good lawyer, but she refused, making the attempt to talk to Whitman personally, but her attempt fails. However, in spite her last (I believe) month of a pregnancy, she continues to struggle against the most powerful mechanism – the government. I like the way Gavin Hood contrast this deligate, pregnant woman with the state machinery and how she tries to convince everybody in her husband’s innocence.

The third story line includes Fawal’s daughter Fatima who falls in love with one of her classmate and leave her home for him, not being able to bear the moral pressure from her father who is going to marry her to somebody.  Her boyfriend, Khalid, turns to be the member of the terrorist Islamist group, which convinces him to kill Fawal in a revenge of Khalid brother’s death. Finding out this unpalatable truth, Fatima tryes to stop him, but it’s too late and as a result she dies with him, however, saving her father. I like the third story line the most, because it is so many-sided. The film director shows us the terrorism and the way of the recruiting perfectly – through words and through psychology. They convince teenagers who don’t know nothing about the life as a whole and drive them to the suicides. The perfect example is the monologue of the leader of the terrorist group, who reminds about their “duty” to Allah and equals their inaction (which is a normal life in fact) with the sin. Denouement of the movie is the brilliant! I was watching it with bated breath. It’s tragic, yes, but it is real. Honestly, I was crying during the last scene, I believe in this teenage pure love, which I think may save so many lives, but it was too late,

Speaking about performance, it is perfect. My dear Maryl Streep is gorgeous as usual, she always plays women with iron will and nerves inimitably. Jake Gyllenhaal copes with his role also superb. I like how he makes decision single-handedly. But Reese Witherspoon impressed me the most – she believes her husband without any doubt and struggle against well-established system, feeling no sorry for herself. I really enjoyed the scenes where we can see her in a full growth – with her figure and her gait – I just fell in love with her heroine. She is pregnant, but she never mentions it, never asks for pity for it.  She is a delicate and so morally strong.

I like this film and I like everything in it. I am interested in a problem of terrorism and I think that the way this issue is showed in the film is excellent. I understand why the film doesn’t have a very high rating – it’s not for everyone and not everyone would be pleased to see the US in such lights. However, all in the film is truth – there is no illusion that the terrorism era will end soon (as the US tries to convince everyone), there is no illusion in the “holiness” of the democracy.