[6]

In the world of shady post-9/11 politics, an innocent man (Omar Metwally) is seized by the CIA and tortured in a foreign country while his wife (Reese Witherspoon) and a doubtful CIA analyst (Jake Gyllenhaal) work on opposite sides of the world to help him. Rendition is a solid drama/thriller from Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Ender’s Game), who refrains from sensationalizing any violence or indulging in much sentiment. Kelley Sane’s remarkable screenplay deftly balances the aforementioned characters with several more, including a senator’s aid (Peter Sarsgaard) who tries to help Witherspoon’s character, an Arabian prison warden (Igal Naor), and a young man teetering dangerously on the verge of terrorist brainwashing (Moa Khouas). You also get Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin as antagonistic senators who refuse to get their hands dirty. The most important takeaway from this film, however, is the important reminder that our government currently ignores our right to ‘due process’ whenever they see fit to do so. And remember all the talk about water boarding in the news a few years ago? You’ll see it reenacted in this movie — judge for yourself whether it’s torture or just ‘enhanced interrogation’.