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Not vintage Meryl Streep -  |
Rendition Review |
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I am always interested in Meryl Streep. Her name was listed in a way suggesting she was a principal player. She is not.
This DVD will give you about 10 minutes of a character type that does not allow Streep to display her range of acting talent. There are many other reviews which address the question of the use of interogation techniques in fighting terrorists and I don't wish to add another. This is not a "war" movie which will bring the country together. |
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Thought provoking film -  |
Rendition Review |
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Some interesting twists in this one!
The acting is well done. The story is more political than I expected but is worth watching. Character portrayal seems genuine although harsh as probably it needs to be to depict the real world. The film seems one sided at times as you are pulled into the situation the pregnant wife is facing waiting for for news about her husband after missing from an international trip. There are no right or wrong answers here. Those in charge are guarded about what they are doing and those who can help are reluctant to risk their careers by getting involved. For the viewer, who is not really sure if the captive is guilty or innocent, it's important to see things from both sides. The tactics are considered legal to fight terrorism but what if the suspect is innocent of the charges? There is a related thread that does not connect until quite late in the film. I had to keep wondering how that story line was related to the main topic - then the surprise ending... and it all comes together. |
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Our dark history -  |
Rendition Review |
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Rendition is very well done. It left me speechless and exhausted at the end. This movie is an indictment on the outgoing Bush administration and where our country as descended in human and civil rights. |
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Torture: American Style - |
Rendition Review |
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Films that incorporate a solid political message along with outstanding performances are few and far between. The problem is incorporating the message without ramming it down the audience's throat. Or not losing the audience in a quagmire of politicalese. Syriana suffered from the latter, while this one suffered only slightly under the strain of throat ramming and some poor character development (or minimal screen time).
The film's premise is based on the U.S. legal maneuver known as "extraordinary rendition," which, when translated, means the deportation of suspected terrorists to countries outside the U.S. for interrogation (see torture). Names, a person's birth country, and the color of one's skin come into play strongly, giving the flick a well-deserved sense of political bigotry. When Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally, Munich) comes back to the U.S. (his adopted home country) he is met at the airport by agents who quickly stuff him into a van and whisk him off to a far-away country. The big question is why? The reality is startling. When a U.S. agent is accidentally killed, the U.S. terrorists chasers want a scapegoat or, at the very least, someone to cop to helping the one who did it. And poor Anwar just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time (with the wrong name and skin color). Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain) stars as a CIA operative who has to witness firsthand the "interrogation" of Amwar. Having been friends with the American who was killed, Douglas Freeman (Gyllenhaal) quickly loses his stomach for the methods used by the U.S.- backed, foreign interrogators. Back in America, Amwar's pregnant wife Isabella (Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line) is wondering why he hasn't returned home. Calling upon an old beau named Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard, Jarhead) who works for Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine), Isabella is given the runaround by the higher-ups regarding her husband's whereabouts. Finally given the name of a homeland security person named Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada) she again butts heads with government silence on the policy of extraordinary rendition. Horrible and redeeming, RENDITION has plenty of strong actors who are given tidbit parts (except for Jake Gyllenhaal), giving much of the film an unidentifiable message from the standpoint of characters and our lack of caring for any of them. It is, however, well told. And the way the story works itself from beginning to end and then back again was pretty impressive (more of a parlor trick, though, but still fun to watch). |
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Extraordinary Rendition - |
Rendition Review |
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Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker
Shadow Watcher Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake "I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything." That's a line from Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, and it's also a key theme in RENDITION, a disturbing, yet very good film. Omar Metwally plays an Egyptian citizen, a successful chemical engineer who has lived in the United States since he was 14-years old. He's married to Reese Witherspoon, has a young son and another child on the way. On his way back to his home in Chicago from a scientific conference in South Africa, he is intercepted at the Washington D.C. airport and taken into custody by the CIA. They believe he is a terrorist and may be responsible for a recent bombing in North Africa. Even though he passes a lie detector test and there is no credible evidence against him, CIA chief Meryl Streep orders that he be sent back to Africa for interrogation and torture. Jake Gyllenhaal plays a low level CIA agent, assigned to oversee Metwally's interrogation. He becomes increasingly uncomfortable with what he observes, particularly after he is convinced that the man is innocent. Alan Arkin and Peter Sarsgaard are cast as the U.S. Senator and his chief aide to whom Witherspoon turns when her husband disappears. RENDITION, directed by Gavin Hood, is a tense, exciting political thriller that follows multiple characters and storylines to a powerful climax. There is also a major surprise near the end of the film. © Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD |
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