What struck me most about Rendition – the new movie about sanctioned torture in the name of 'the war on terror' – is that 10 years ago it would've been dismissed as paranoid ranting. Sadly, these days, the fictional story is all-too believable.
In the wake of a suicide bombing, an innocent man, Anwar El-Abrahimi, is plucked from an American airport by CIA goons. He is hooded and secretly flown back to the scene of the crime in North Africa. There – in a dungeon – with Jake Gyllenhaal's fresh-faced agent watching on, America's thuggish allies torture Anwar. His torments include electric shocks and the infamous technique of waterboarding, which makes the victim feel like he's drowning. And all of this is carried out on the scantest of circumstantial evidence.
Back in the US, Anwar’s wife, played by Reese Witherspoon, contacts an ex-boyfriend now a political advisor (Peter Sarsgaard) in an attempt to find out what has happened to her husband. The answers lie with Meryl Streep’s reptilian senator, who believes such torture is justified.
This film is didactic. Sarsgaard's character, for instance, serves to show how rendition evolved and how it works, while Streep represents the American government's belief that the means justify the ends. But Rendition is also a smart, genuinely felt response to one of the most appalling contradictions of a war that's meant to safeguard freedoms.
I liked that we see multiple viewpoints, ranging from Islamic students to a liberal senator who wants to fight rendition but only when he knows he can win. The performances are all very good, even if some American characters feel underdeveloped because they take a backseat to the issues. On this note, it's the story of two young Muslim lovers that's most affecting and surprising.
As a dramatic thriller, Rendition might've worked better had there been more ambiguity about Anwar's guilt or innocence. And the finale feels a little too much like an action movie. Even so, this is a decent and well-meant exploration of rendition and the attitudes that have allowed it to continue.
