Jason KingRendition ($11-)
July 19th 2008 01:12
Rendition ($11-)
Rendition is a 2007 "political" drama directed by Gavin Hood and starring Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Omar Metwally. It centers on the controversial CIA practice of extraordinary rendition, and is based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri. The movie also has similarities to the Canadian Maher Arar case. Arar (born 1970), a telecommunications engineer, lives in Canada, holding dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship. He was deported to Syria and tortured, in an apparent example of the United States policy of "extraordinary rendition".
Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, and the term "torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the U.S. has purportedly transferred suspected terrorists to countries known to employ harsh interrogation techniques that may rise to the level of torture. It has been alleged that torture has been employed with the knowledge or acquiescence of the United States, although United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in an April 2006 radio interview that the United States does not transfer people to places where it is known they will be tortured.
The US program has raised a series of moral, judicial, and political allegations, prompting several official European Union investigations. A June 2006 report from the Council of Europe estimated 100 people had been kidnapped by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on EU territory and rendered to other countries, often after having transited through secret detention centers ("black sites") used by the CIA in cooperation with other governments. According to the European Parliament report of February 2007, the CIA has conducted 1,245 flights, many of them to destinations where suspects could face torture, in violation of article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. A large majority of the European Union Parliament endorsed the report's conclusion that many member states tolerated illegal actions of the CIA and criticized several European governments and intelligence agencies for their unwillingness to cooperate with the investigation.
Directed by Gavin Hood from Tsotsi fame this film is NOWHERE near as good, riveting or powerful. The film is washed out by trying to combine two unrelated stories. OK, they maybe slightly related but it just doesn't work. What I think would work more was two seperate films, one film a love story about the two middle eastern characters in love with one of them a suicide bomber, this would be a very powerful film if made correctly explaining the reasons behind this tragic kamikaze style of warfare. Another the actual Rendition story showing how the cultural racism and the terrorism created by the US on accidental targets is unforgivable and a human rights issue of major proportions.
The acting is great, Jake is OK but while his character is meant to be going through hell Jake portrays him as a misery guts and his lack of emotion doesn't work for me. Meryl Streep (best actor on the planet) and Alan Arkin are wasted and have minor parts that are great but these guys are underutlised. Peter Sarsgaard has the most amazing voice and I could listen to him all day long, but his character is weak. Reese Witherspoon is awesome in happy scenes playing with her kid but in the dramatic scenes where she is yelling at Meryl Streep she is too whiny and annoying and it was enough to make me laugh, something I should not be doing in a film with this story.
What does work is the music, all Middle Eastern music that I really enjoyed and gave the film a foreign element that is eerie and sad. I also think the message the film is relating is very important to be heard. Here are some of the many people who really go through this: Khaled El-Masri - German citizen kidnapped and kept in a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months before being released, Abou Elkassim Britel - Italian citizen kidnapped in Pakistan and sent to be tortured in Morocco, Ahmed Agiza - After applying for political asylum in Sweden, he was rendered to Egypt and tortured and Bisher al-Rawi - Businessman kidnapped in Africa, transferred to Guantanamo, and later released without charge. In this sense this story needs be told and the governments of all countries need to remember what makes people and cultures good and just and this is not it!
This film does try and is not a horrible film. I expected more from Gavin Hood with a cast like this. Let's hope Gavin does better on his next outing as director of Wolverine. Out now on DVD - worth $11-
Rendition is a 2007 "political" drama directed by Gavin Hood and starring Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Omar Metwally. It centers on the controversial CIA practice of extraordinary rendition, and is based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri. The movie also has similarities to the Canadian Maher Arar case. Arar (born 1970), a telecommunications engineer, lives in Canada, holding dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship. He was deported to Syria and tortured, in an apparent example of the United States policy of "extraordinary rendition".
Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the apprehension and extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, and the term "torture by proxy" is used by some critics to describe situations in which the U.S. has purportedly transferred suspected terrorists to countries known to employ harsh interrogation techniques that may rise to the level of torture. It has been alleged that torture has been employed with the knowledge or acquiescence of the United States, although United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in an April 2006 radio interview that the United States does not transfer people to places where it is known they will be tortured.
The US program has raised a series of moral, judicial, and political allegations, prompting several official European Union investigations. A June 2006 report from the Council of Europe estimated 100 people had been kidnapped by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on EU territory and rendered to other countries, often after having transited through secret detention centers ("black sites") used by the CIA in cooperation with other governments. According to the European Parliament report of February 2007, the CIA has conducted 1,245 flights, many of them to destinations where suspects could face torture, in violation of article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture. A large majority of the European Union Parliament endorsed the report's conclusion that many member states tolerated illegal actions of the CIA and criticized several European governments and intelligence agencies for their unwillingness to cooperate with the investigation.
Directed by Gavin Hood from Tsotsi fame this film is NOWHERE near as good, riveting or powerful. The film is washed out by trying to combine two unrelated stories. OK, they maybe slightly related but it just doesn't work. What I think would work more was two seperate films, one film a love story about the two middle eastern characters in love with one of them a suicide bomber, this would be a very powerful film if made correctly explaining the reasons behind this tragic kamikaze style of warfare. Another the actual Rendition story showing how the cultural racism and the terrorism created by the US on accidental targets is unforgivable and a human rights issue of major proportions.
The acting is great, Jake is OK but while his character is meant to be going through hell Jake portrays him as a misery guts and his lack of emotion doesn't work for me. Meryl Streep (best actor on the planet) and Alan Arkin are wasted and have minor parts that are great but these guys are underutlised. Peter Sarsgaard has the most amazing voice and I could listen to him all day long, but his character is weak. Reese Witherspoon is awesome in happy scenes playing with her kid but in the dramatic scenes where she is yelling at Meryl Streep she is too whiny and annoying and it was enough to make me laugh, something I should not be doing in a film with this story.
What does work is the music, all Middle Eastern music that I really enjoyed and gave the film a foreign element that is eerie and sad. I also think the message the film is relating is very important to be heard. Here are some of the many people who really go through this: Khaled El-Masri - German citizen kidnapped and kept in a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months before being released, Abou Elkassim Britel - Italian citizen kidnapped in Pakistan and sent to be tortured in Morocco, Ahmed Agiza - After applying for political asylum in Sweden, he was rendered to Egypt and tortured and Bisher al-Rawi - Businessman kidnapped in Africa, transferred to Guantanamo, and later released without charge. In this sense this story needs be told and the governments of all countries need to remember what makes people and cultures good and just and this is not it!
This film does try and is not a horrible film. I expected more from Gavin Hood with a cast like this. Let's hope Gavin does better on his next outing as director of Wolverine. Out now on DVD - worth $11-
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I found this one a bit flat too, a lot of potential was wasted in structure and pacing. I'm NOT a huge Reese Witherspoon fan normally but I actually thought she did a good job with her underwritten part.
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