Rendition (2007)

This Movie Is About: family and the lengths we would go to be with our familly or be without them. That seems like a funny story line for a movie about rendition. For those of you, like me, who did not know what rendition is. It's basically the practice of sending prisoners to countries where torture is allowed. So the US would send terrorists to these countries, North Africa in this case to get their information. Most of the time the informaiton is not accurate because let's face it, information under distress is not very good information. That's the setting as we follow Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) as he is suspected of helping terrorists in a bombing in South Africa. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Douglas Freeman who's an agent from the CIA in charge of coordinating with the interrogation officer and trying to keep this thing under wraps as back in the US, Anwar's wife, Isabella (Resse Witherspoon) is desperately trying to get in touch with Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep) who is incharge of the entire operation. This film takes us on a roller coster ride full of emotion and interweaving plot lines all coming together in the end for a well told story about rendition.

You Should Watch This Movie Because: there will always be questions regarding terrorism and the ways it is countered especially after the 9/11 days. This film looks at the issue from a sideways perspective and tackles it by focusing on a micro level with one man's struggle with the system. But what is brilliant about this movie and makes it worth watching is how this one man's life and struggle is intensified and echoed through all the branches of government in all countries. It's actually very emotional and eye catching to see how everyone affects each other when dealing with things like family and national security which in sense is taking care of a family. A country is much bigger but isn't it just like a big family in the end?

What's Hot: The acting is great. I think acting is something that is totally underrated these days. With celebrities and directors getting all the attention, there is very little room for people to appreciate real talent and dedication to the acting craft. I mean, I never heard of this Omar Metwally dude and he just blew me away. Jake will always be solid as so is Meryl. But what sets this apart is the great support these leads get with everyone doing their part in making the experience real. There is a nice story injected in here which takes the point of view from the other side. I'm not going to ruin too much of it but let's just say that terrorists are human too and they have feelings which are often ignored because we lose sight of their humanity and don't realize that they, like us, have a mother waiting at home.

What's Not Hot: The opening is painfully slow. When I say painful I literary mean I was falling asleep. I don't know if it was because I was very tired from the night before or what but yeah. There are long shots for character expression and it's just brutal. Moreover, because of all the stories going on at the same time, it's difficult to really connect them together. It doesn't help that one of the story lines work as a twist for the others because in the end it feels almost unnecessary and it leaves the audience more confused than anything else.


Last Comments: Rendition suffers from what most movies of its kind suffer from. Because it's made with a purpose, that is, it's dealing with a very sensitive topic and something that should be carefully considered, it loses a lot of the entertainment. Or at least for me it did. If you are into this kind of thing then this movie will be top class for you. But for me, and the average viewer, I just felt that this movie took the political side a bit too far, especially in the beginning and although the characters were compelling, they felt like serving the plot more than anything else. Although, if you look at this film from the perspective of family I think that most of these issues can be excused and the emotion will come through. It's difficult to look at it any other way and be entertained. The only problem this solution doesn't solve is the opening which will be epically slow either way. But it will be well worth it in the end.

Breaking It Down:
Story: 7.5 (Kelley Sane)
Direction: 8.0 (Gavin Hood)
Acting: 8.5
Cinematography: 7.5
Music/Sound: 7.0

Entertainment Value: 7.8 (not an average)