Rendition

Movies with a political agenda rarely succeed in furthering their aims. This could be an exception to that rule, if the audience suspected that this was more than fiction. Unfortunately, I doubt that most Americans who saw Rendition believed that what this film portrays is the nature of our reality in a post 9/11 world. Even worse, perhaps they believe that this must be so. In spite of this, Gavin Hood (Tsotsi) gives us a remarkably good film.

It starts with a wrong number to the cell phone of Anwar El-Ibrihimi (Omar Metwally,) an Egyptian born American chemical engineer. This call makes him a suspect in a terrorist bombing and he's plucked off his flight home and spirited to Egypt to face interrogation. The CIA operative in charge (Jake Gyllenhall) has little stomach for the Egyptian methods (oh, the joys of water boarding!) and becomes increasingly convinced he has nothing to tell. In the meantime, El-Ibrihimi's terrified wife (Reese Witherspoon in a rare excellent performance) is trying to move someone to investigate her husbands disappearance and is given the full bureaucratic runaround.

The cast of this film includes Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin and Peter Sarsgaard and there is fine acting all around. The story and it's un-conclusion are chilling - but these are the ethics of our times. Rendition should leave you with lots of questions, but at the very least it's an entertaining evening. See the unremarkable website here, or better, read about a true story of extraordinary rendition here.