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review: rendition (2007)
By vrtualme | October 28, 2007
Peace, at what cost? Is a decent part of the question asked in the new movie Rendition (2007). The term itself originally described a ‘handing over’ of a person from one jurisdiction to another; also known as extradition. But the CIA was granted permission to use rendition in a presidential directive that dates to the Clinton administration. The practice has grown sharply since the 911 terrorist attacks, and now includes a form where suspects are taken into US custody but delivered to a third-party state, often without ever being on American soil. Rendered suspects are denied due process because they are arrested without charges and deprived of legal counsel. And often suspects are taken to countries where torture during interrogation remains common. (most of the above information came from Wikipedia.) 
In this film we see the fictional case of Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally - Munich 2005), an Egyptian man suspected of terrorism that is picked up and taken to another country for questioning. Jake Gyllenhaal (Jarhead 2005) plays the pencil pushing CIA geek who’s assigned to be the American witness to the interrogation. What he sees doesn’t sit well with him, and he starts to question the whole system. Meanwhile, back home, El-Ibrahimi’s American wife (Reese Witherspoon – Oscar winner for Walk the Line 2005) enlists the help of an old college friend (Peter Sarsgaard - The Skeleton Key 2005); and together they start knocking on Washington doors trying to discover what has happened to her missing husband. Also included in the cast are Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Alan Arkin. There are a lot of sides covered here, but in the end there still doesn’t seem to be any justification for the actions taken. After watching the film ask yourself, is it worth it? Here’s the official website.