A Big Boy Did it And Ran Away... (Rendition (DVD))

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Rendition (DVD)
Date:	06/06/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Topical

Disadvantages: Not convincing

FILM REVIEW ONLY

This political thriller from 2007 deals with one of the hottest political potatoes of the past few years; the rendition flights by the American government of suspected terrorists. It's directed by a South African director Gavin Hood, who given that countries beleaguered history might well know more than most about the issue of human rights.

The movie is about the policy of "extraordinary rendition" adopted by the US administration during the Clinton Presidency, but which then took on a life of its own after the Islamic terrorist attacks of 9/11.

It tells the story of one man, a naturalised US citizen from Egypt called Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) who is abducted by the CIA while he is about to take a flight from Cape Town to Chicago. They suspect he is somehow involved in the organisation and planning of a suicide bombing in North Africa (on pretty slim evidence!) and he is transferred to his country of birth (Egypt) for questioning.

His pregnant American wife Isabella (Reese Witherspoon) naturally misses him when he fails to turn up at Chicago airport, and eventually enlists the aid of an old college chum Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard) who is now the personal aide to a US Senator to try to find out what has happened to him.

Meanwhile poor old Anwar is being subjected to all sorts of indignities and tortures by his Egyptian interrogators, all overseen by the CIA agent on the ground in Egypt Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) who despite being caught up in the terrorist bomb attack of which Anwar is suspected suffers enormous pangs of conscience about the treatment he is receiving.

There's a sub-plot involving the head of the Egyptian secret police Abasi Fawal (Igal Naor); the man charged with interrogating Anwar, and the relationship his daughter Fatima is having with her extremist boyfriend Khalid.

Meryl Streep plays the CIA Director Corrine Whitman, but fails to convince and will hardly consider this one of her finer moments on the silver screen. Likewise, Reese Whitherspoon is weak and insipid as the outraged pregnant wife. The only really worthwhile acting performance is from Omar Metwally as Anwar, who strangely enough is a US citizen of Egyptian extraction in real life.

Ultimately the movie fails to convince despite the strong cast list, and despite an interesting wee sub-plot that provides a twist in the tail towards the end of the movie.

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Director: Gavin Hood

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard, Omar Metwally, Igal Naor, Zineb Oukach and Moa Khouas.

Duration: 120 minutes

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Summary: Ultimately a weak movie