''Rendition'' is a 2007 American

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

Gavin Hood Gavin Hood (born 12 May 1963) is a South African filmmaker, and actor, best known for writing and directing ''Tsotsi'' (2005), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He also directed the films ''X-Men Origins: Wolverine'', ' ...

and starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, and Omar Metwally. It centers on the controversial

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

practice of

extraordinary rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored Kidnapping, forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had t ...

and is based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri, who was mistaken for

Khalid al-Masri Khalid al-Masri ( ar, خالد المصري; other transcriptions: '', , Khaled, El-Masri'' ) is the name of a person alleged to have approached two 9/11 hijackers on a train in Germany and suggested that they contact an alleged al Qaeda o ...

Plot

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, CIA analyst Douglas Freeman ( Jake Gyllenhaal) briefs an agent. A

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent Strike (attack), attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has suicide, accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have oc ...

kills the agent and 18 civilians; the target was high-ranking police official Abbas-i "Abasi" Fawal ( Yigal Naor), a liaison for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

who conducts interrogations with techniques amounting to torture, but Fawal is unharmed.

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian-born Anwar El-Ibrahimi ( Omar Metwally), a chemical engineer living in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with his mother, his pregnant wife Isabella ( Reese Witherspoon), and their young son, is believed linked to known terrorist Rashid by records indicating several calls to Anwar's cellphone. Returning from a conference in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, Anwar is detained by American officials and sent to a secret facility near the earlier attack, where he is interrogated and tortured. Isabella is not informed of her husband’s whereabouts, and all official evidence of his being on the plane at Cape Town International Airport is erased. Freeman, assigned to observe Anwar’s interrogation by Fawal, is doubtful of Anwar’s guilt, but CIA superior Corrine Whitman ( Meryl Streep) insists such treatments are necessary to save potential victims of terrorism. Isabella travels to

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to ask friend Alan Smith ( Peter Sarsgaard), an aide to Senator Hawkins ( Alan Arkin), to find her missing husband. Smith informs Isabella that Anwar failed to board the plane in Cape Town, but she shows him her husband's credit card purchase at the in-flight

duty-free shop A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who ...

, confirming he was on the flight. Smith pieces together details of Anwar's detention but is unable to convince Hawkins or Whitman, who ordered the rendition, to release Anwar or acknowledge his imprisonment. Hawkins tells Smith to let the matter go, as public debate on

would complicate the senator’s bill before Congress. His sympathetic secretary tips Isabella off that Whitman will be visiting. Isabella confronts Whitman and Hawkins before being led out by security, only to go into labour in the hallway. Under torture, Anwar eventually confesses that he advised a man named Rashid on chemicals to enhance explosives and was promised $40,000. Freeman suspects a false confession, confirmed when the names Anwar gives are traced by

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

and draw a blank. A quick

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

search reveals the names belong to an Egyptian soccer team. Freeman approaches the Minister of the Interior with this finding, questioning why a man with a $200,000 salary would risk his life for $40,000. When discussing the value of intelligence gathered through torture, Freeman quotes from ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' by

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

: "I fear you speak upon the rack, Where men enforced do speak anything." Freeman persuades the minister to release Anwar, sending him back to America via a clandestine ship to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, ignoring Whitman's frantic orders to hand Anwar back to Fawal and knowing he will probably be branded as insubordinate. Meanwhile, Smith similarly disregards Hawkins' advice and leaks the torture details to the press, igniting a worldwide scandal and likely ending his political aspirations. Anwar returns home and shares a tearful reunion with Isabella, his son, and their newborn baby.

Sub-plot

In a parallel storyline, Abasi Fawal's daughter Fatima ( Zineb Oukach) runs away with her boyfriend Khalid ( Moa Khouas). Abasi learns Khalid's late brother was an inmate at his prison. Fatima learns that Khalid belongs to a terrorist group, and discovers a notebook with pictures: Khalid and his brother brandishing AK-47s; a grief-stricken Khalid standing over his brother's corpse; her father; and a statement that Khalid will avenge his brother. Realising that her father, responsible for the death of Khalid's brother, is about to be assassinated by Khalid, she runs to the town square and confronts Khalid. He hesitates, and is killed by the attack’s organizers; he releases the dead man's switch, and Fatima is killed in the explosion from the beginning of the film. Abasi rushes to Khalid's apartment and discovers Khalid's grandmother grieving the loss of her grandsons and Fatima. Abasi realizes his daughter died trying to protect him.

Theory

The phone record implicating Anwar remains unexplained. It is mentioned that phones are often passed off to avoid tracing; the DVD extras explain a subplot on this concept that was cut from the film. Director Gavin Hood stated in an interview that the ambiguity of Anwar’s involvement was deliberate, to let the viewer decide whether the possibility of his guilt justified kidnapping and torture.

Cast

* Reese Witherspoon as Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi * Jake Gyllenhaal as Douglas Freeman * Meryl Streep as Corinne Whitman * Omar Metwally as Anwar El-Ibrahimi * Alan Arkin as Senator Hawkins * Peter Sarsgaard as Alan Smith * Aramis Knight as Jeremy El-Ibrahimi *

Rosie Malek-Yonan Rosie Malek-Yonan (b. July 4, 1965) is an Assyrian-American actress, author, director, public figure and activist. Malek-Yonan became a noted pianist at an early age. Having graduated from the University of Cambridge, she settled in the United ...

as Nuru El-Ibrahimi * Moa Khouas as Khalid El-Emin * Zineb Oukach as Fatima Fawal * Yigal Naor as Abasi Fawal * J. K. Simmons as Lee Mayers * Bob Gunton as Lars Whitman * Hadar Ratzon as Safiya *

Reymond Amsalem Reymond Amsalem ( he, ריימונד אמסלם, born 19 July 1978) is an Israeli actress. She has appeared in more than 20 films since 2003. She was born in Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) ...

as Layla Fawal *

Simon Abkarian Simon Abkarian (Armenian language, Armenian: Սիմոն Աբկարյան, born March 5, 1962) is a French-Armenian actor. Life and career Born in Gonesse, Val d'Oise, of Armenians, Armenian descent, Abkarian spent his childhood in Lebanon. ...

as Said Abdel Aziz * Wendy Phillips as Samantha * Laila Mrabti as Lina Fawal * Christian Martin (actor) as Senator Lewis' Aide

Reception

Reviews for ''Rendition'' were mixed. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reports a 47% approval rating from critics, based on 152 reviews, with the consensus noting "The impressive cast cannot rescue ''Rendition'', which explores complex issues in woefully simplified terms." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film averaged a score of 55 based on 34 reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

awarded the film four stars out of four, saying, "''Rendition'' is valuable and rare. As I wrote from Toronto: 'It is a movie about the theory and practice of two things: torture and personal responsibility. And it is wise about what is right, and what is wrong.'" In contrast, Peter Travers of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' applauded the cast, but noted that the film was a "bust as a persuasive drama". Travers declared the film the year's Worst Anti-War Film on his list of the Worst Movies of 2007.

References

External links

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at The Black Commentator {{DEFAULTSORT:Rendition (Film) 2007 films 2000s political thriller films 2000s spy films American nonlinear narrative films Extraordinary rendition program Films set in Egypt Films set in South Africa Films set in Illinois Films directed by Gavin Hood Films about terrorism Films shot in Morocco Films about kidnapping Films about the Central Intelligence Agency Films produced by Steve Golin Hyperlink films New Line Cinema films American political thriller films American political drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films