There are a slew of films about the current war situation and US politics being released in theaters this fall. We've already had
The Kingdom, a mediocre and pat Hollywood-ization on a very difficult and timely topic. Now we have
Rendition, which is also a bit too pat for its own good, but is the easily superior film. A lot of this has to do with the fact that this is the more realistic of the two films.
The Kingdom was a popcorn action flick disguised as an important movie.
Rendition takes a much more honest and human approach, and is much more effective because of it.
When Egyptian-born businessman Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) makes his way through an airport to return home to Chicago after a business trip, he expects to be greeted by the loving arms of his pregnant American wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon). Instead, he is greeted by airport security and government agents who lead him away and contain him. A recent terrorist bombing in Africa has been linked to him, due to the fact his cell phone records show that he has connections to a man who shares the same name as the one claiming responsibility to the attack. With Anwar in captivity, homeland security head Corrinne Whitman (Meryl Streep) gives the orders to put him under the guard of Arabic interrogator, Abasi Falwai (Igal Naor), who specializes in torture methods. A rookie CIA analyst named Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned to observe the interrogation methods used on Anwar, and he finds himself horrified by the level of torture the captors inflect upon him. As Douglas tries to deal with the conflicted emotions he's feeling over how far the American government is willing to go to get information, Isabella is left in the dark, and left wondering what has become of her husband when he never arrived home. With roadblocks appearing every time she tries to get information from someone, she has to rely on the help of an old friend named Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) who has govefnment connections due to the fact he works for a Washington Senator (Alan Arkin).
Rendition is a story about a chain of events that slowly involves a large group of people. It not only involves them, but it consumes them completely. Believe it or not, the characters mentioned above are not the only ones affected. There is yet another subplot concerning Abasi's teenage daughter, Fatima (Zineb Oukach), who is involved with a young student whom her father does not approve of, and has run away from home to be with him. How they both fit into the plot, I will not reveal here, but it should be pretty obvious to most alert viewers early on as to why the movie keeps on cutting back to them. I always tense up a little when I realize the movie is going to be juggling multiple plots and characters. It's always kind of like watching a dangerous high wire act, and many movies have not been able to balance all the plotlines and characters, and fallen into the trap of mediocrity. For the most part, Rendition stays on solid footing. Aside from a confusing third act moment that is told out of sequence from the rest of the film, the movie is easy to follow and we find ourselves quickly involved with each of the unfolding storylines and the situations that the various characters find themselves in.
What impressed me the most is that the movie is wise in its use of anger. This is an angry film about questionable interrogation practices that the US has employed to its own benefit in getting information, but it is not an Anti-American film. There are no black and whites here, only various shades of gray. Meryl Streep's character spends most of the movie dodging people and questions about Anwar El-Ibrahimi, but when she is backed into a corner and forced to give something that actually resembles an answer, her reasoning and her logic makes some form of sense. She uses the argument of keeping America safe by any means possible, while of course leaving out certain key details. She has an icy demeanor and her methods often come across as cold, but we also get the sense that she truly believes in what she is saying. Maybe she's convinced herself that what she's saying is the truth after years of spinning her own actions to people who come up to question her. Maybe she truly does believe what she's saying. The movie leaves it up to us to decide. Most of the characters in this movie are firm in their beliefs as the film begins, and either find those beliefs wavering, completely shifted to another way of thinking, or they go on believing what they always have. This is a fascinating character study, and much like
Gone Baby Gone, is worthy of a lengthy discussion when it is over.
Rendition marks the English-language debut of South African director, Gavin Hood. This has certainly been a wonderful weekend for new directors, and Mr. Hood is certainly in good company. His method is straight forward, but not in such a way that the camera becomes stagnant or the action becomes dull. He doesn't rely on any fancy camera tricks or angles, but he always knows how to focus the action in such a way that what we need to focus on immediately grabs our attention. The story moves at a brisk pace, and the editing expertly blends the multiple storylines in a way that is natural and never confusing, except for that brief third act moment that is told out of sequence. The performances he gets are about as fine as you would expect in a cast that includes such names as Gyllenhaal, Streep, Arkin, and Sarsgaard. The only small disappointment comes from Reese Witherspoon, and it's certainly not for lack of trying. You can tell she's giving her performance her all, but her character is unfortunately given the short end of the stick when it comes to characterization and development. She's forced to mainly sit around and look worried as she waits for any information at all about her missing husband. Witherspoon does try to add some strength to her performance, and makes her Isabelle more than just a woman who cries over her situation, but she just can't overcome the way her character has been written.
Rendition is probably about as simplified and pat as
The Kingdom was in a lot of ways with its subject matter, but it succeeds due in part to the fact that it takes itself a lot more seriously and doesn't seem to be trying to be a crowd pleaser. There's no comic relief, there are no fast-paced and expertly edited action sequences, and the movie is still able to pull a few hard punches. The depiction of torture is realistic, but never exploitive. It knows not to linger on it, and it knows how to shock us. When all is said and done, could the movie have gone even deeper into its own subject matter? Absolutely. But there is just enough here to engage while watching it and engage some interesting conversations when it is over.
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There are a slew of films about the current war situation and US politics being released in theaters this fall. We've already had The Kingdom, a mediocre and pat Hollywood-ization on a very difficult and timely topic. Now we have Rendition, which is also a bit too pat for its own good, but is the easily superior film. A lot of this has to do with the fact that this is the more realistic of the two films. The Kingdom was a popcorn action flick disguised as an important movie. Rendition takes a much more honest and human approach, and is much more effective because of it.
When Egyptian-born businessman Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) makes his way through an airport to return home to Chicago after a business trip, he expects to be greeted by the loving arms of his pregnant American wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon). Instead, he is greeted by airport security and government agents who lead him away and contain him. A recent terrorist bombing in Africa has been linked to him, due to the fact his cell phone records show that he has connections to a man who shares the same name as the one claiming responsibility to the attack. With Anwar in captivity, homeland security head Corrinne Whitman (Meryl Streep) gives the orders to put him under the guard of Arabic interrogator, Abasi Falwai (Igal Naor), who specializes in torture methods. A rookie CIA analyst named Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned to observe the interrogation methods used on Anwar, and he finds himself horrified by the level of torture the captors inflect upon him. As Douglas tries to deal with the conflicted emotions he's feeling over how far the American government is willing to go to get information, Isabella is left in the dark, and left wondering what has become of her husband when he never arrived home. With roadblocks appearing every time she tries to get information from someone, she has to rely on the help of an old friend named Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) who has govefnment connections due to the fact he works for a Washington Senator (Alan Arkin).
Rendition is a story about a chain of events that slowly involves a large group of people. It not only involves them, but it consumes them completely. Believe it or not, the characters mentioned above are not the only ones affected. There is yet another subplot concerning Abasi's teenage daughter, Fatima (Zineb Oukach), who is involved with a young student whom her father does not approve of, and has run away from home to be with him. How they both fit into the plot, I will not reveal here, but it should be pretty obvious to most alert viewers early on as to why the movie keeps on cutting back to them. I always tense up a little when I realize the movie is going to be juggling multiple plots and characters. It's always kind of like watching a dangerous high wire act, and many movies have not been able to balance all the plotlines and characters, and fallen into the trap of mediocrity. For the most part, Rendition stays on solid footing. Aside from a confusing third act moment that is told out of sequence from the rest of the film, the movie is easy to follow and we find ourselves quickly involved with each of the unfolding storylines and the situations that the various characters find themselves in.
What impressed me the most is that the movie is wise in its use of anger. This is an angry film about questionable interrogation practices that the US has employed to its own benefit in getting information, but it is not an Anti-American film. There are no black and whites here, only various shades of gray. Meryl Streep's character spends most of the movie dodging people and questions about Anwar El-Ibrahimi, but when she is backed into a corner and forced to give something that actually resembles an answer, her reasoning and her logic makes some form of sense. She uses the argument of keeping America safe by any means possible, while of course leaving out certain key details. She has an icy demeanor and her methods often come across as cold, but we also get the sense that she truly believes in what she is saying. Maybe she's convinced herself that what she's saying is the truth after years of spinning her own actions to people who come up to question her. Maybe she truly does believe what she's saying. The movie leaves it up to us to decide. Most of the characters in this movie are firm in their beliefs as the film begins, and either find those beliefs wavering, completely shifted to another way of thinking, or they go on believing what they always have. This is a fascinating character study, and much like Gone Baby Gone, is worthy of a lengthy discussion when it is over.
Rendition marks the English-language debut of South African director, Gavin Hood. This has certainly been a wonderful weekend for new directors, and Mr. Hood is certainly in good company. His method is straight forward, but not in such a way that the camera becomes stagnant or the action becomes dull. He doesn't rely on any fancy camera tricks or angles, but he always knows how to focus the action in such a way that what we need to focus on immediately grabs our attention. The story moves at a brisk pace, and the editing expertly blends the multiple storylines in a way that is natural and never confusing, except for that brief third act moment that is told out of sequence. The performances he gets are about as fine as you would expect in a cast that includes such names as Gyllenhaal, Streep, Arkin, and Sarsgaard. The only small disappointment comes from Reese Witherspoon, and it's certainly not for lack of trying. You can tell she's giving her performance her all, but her character is unfortunately given the short end of the stick when it comes to characterization and development. She's forced to mainly sit around and look worried as she waits for any information at all about her missing husband. Witherspoon does try to add some strength to her performance, and makes her Isabelle more than just a woman who cries over her situation, but she just can't overcome the way her character has been written.
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