The war against terrorism has been dramatized faster than any other military campaign in U.S. history. The latest film to capitalize on the intensity and controversy of American national security tactics is Gavin Hood's "Rendition."
The film explores the process of extraordinary rendition, under which the U.S. government been able to extradite terrorist suspects to be interrogated in countries whose policies on the use of torture are less scrupulous than our own. The use of extraordinary rendition began under the Clinton administration and reached new heights after Sept. 11.
Hood, a South African writer and director, gained international fame for his film, "Tsotsi" (2005), which won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His films typically aim to expose social problems or to educate audiences as with his informational films released in South Africa concerning HIV/AIDS treatment.
"Rendition," a politically-charged thriller, is his first Hollywood movie. Though it's thematically heart-wrenching and controversial, the plotline and characters are poorly developed.
"Rendition" is based on the true story of Maher Arar, a computer engineer and Canadian citizen who was wrongly accused of having terrorist ties and was abducted by American intelligence officers at the JFK airport in September 2002. He was denied access to a lawyer and, instead of being tried in an American court, was flown to a prison in Syria where he was kept for a year and repeatedly tortured for information.
In the film, Arar's parallel is Anwar El-Ibrahimi (played by Omar Metwally), a chemical engineer of Egyptian heritage who has a Green Card and lives in America with his pregnant wife, Isabella (played by Reese Witherspoon), and their young son. El-Ibrahimi is on a business trip in South Africa when a suicide bomb explodes thousands of miles away in Northern Egypt and kills an American agent.
Because El-Ibrahimi's name is similar one that is related to a suspected terrorist believed to be behind the bombing, U.S. intelligence agent Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep) has him intercepted at an American airport on his way home to the States and sent overseas to a secret detention facility.
Even at this stage, Whitman's colleague shows hesitation to follow her orders, because he does not believe Anwar is involved. Whitman remains resolute, however, and Anwar is sent to a prison to be interrogated.
The "interrogation" devolves into extreme torture executed by the man for whom the bomb was primarily intended, Abasi Fawal (Yigal Naor), the head of police in the city. The interrogation is supervised by Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young CIA field agent, but he is not authorized to participate or intervene in what happens to El-Ibrahimi.
Another plotline develops around Fawal's daughter throughout the movie, though it is unclear until the end that there is a time disjunction between the separate stories.
"Rendition" has an all-star American cast, but fails to make good use of it, as none of the talented actors lend great performances to the film. Streep's Whitman is a tight-mouthed, merciless, two-faced bureaucrat whose arrogant self-assurance condemns an innocent man to torture.
Streep delivers orders to Gyllenhaal's character to continue the interrogation in a forced Southern accent while sipping coffee in a whitewashed kitchen. She seems more like a caricature than a person. Though she's always a strong actress, Streep is the wrong woman for the job.
Gyllenhaal, who has shown enormous range in previous films, does not shine in "Rendition." To understand his character, the fact that he believes Anwar is guilty should have been made clear in the beginning of the film. On the contrary, Gyllenhaal seems detached, detracting from the impact of his ultimate commitment to Anwar's innocence.
The nonlinear chronology is revealed oddly in a plot twist at the climax of the film. This causes confusion about the storyline at a pivotal moment and distracts audiences at an important time.
"Rendition" tattles on secretive American policies that violate the civil liberties of potentially innocent individuals. Unfortunately, the complex plot structure is poorly executed and unnecessary.
The film would have benefited from better casting instead of simply falling back on big names. "Rendition" had the potential to be powerful, but Hood's Hollywood-esque interpretation didn't cut it.
