Dir:Gavin Hood. US. 2007. 120mins
Religious extremism is the evil of our time; creating those willing to die for a cause and those prepared to sacrifice their core values to prevent them. The murky complexities of the war on terror provide a compelling backdrop to Rendition, a smart, provocative political thriller in which Oscar-winning Tsotsi director Gavin Hood makes a confident move into the Hollywood mainstream.
Careful handling of the emotive material and clear liberal leanings run the risk of preaching to the converted but the film has enough human drama to grip the uncommitted general viewer.
The heavyweight cast should also help to ensure solid theatrical success for a film that is commercially astute in the way it delivers a message without turning into an alienating sermon on morals and motives.
Tsotsi established Hood as a director with the ability to illuminate a difficult situation through a very personal human story.
Rendition repeats the feat on a larger scale, using the fictional fate of an innocent Egyptian-American to expose the American policy of extraordinary rendition and the cycle of violence that demands an eye for an eye.
It has the torn-from-reality feel and bite that will remind older viewers of vintage Costa-Gavras thrillers like Missing and State Of Siege.
The story begins in Cape Town as Egyptian-American chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahim (Omar Metwally) prepares to return home to his pregnant wife Isabella (Witherspoon) and son in Chicago.
In North Africa, CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) narrowly escapes a suicide bombing in which the target appears to have been Abasi Fawal (Yigal Naor).
Nineteen people are killed including one American and CIA boss Corinne Whitman (Streep) wants revenge.
The slimmest of evidence links Anwar to the bombing. Whitman authorises his detention and flight to North Africa where he is imprisoned and tortured.
Isabella embarks on a tenacious campaign to discover what has happened to him using her friendship with a Senator's aide (Sarsgaard) to try and wrestle some answers from a political establishment that would rather turn a blind eye than make waves.
Rendition manages to sustain a balanced approach to a mosaic-like story without tipping the focus towards one element or losing sight of anything that matters. Isabella's struggle behind closed doors in Washington is matched by the conscience-stricken's actions of Freeman and the unfolding story of Abasi's daughter Fatima and her unwitting love affair with suicide bomber Khalid.
A last-minute twist in chronology deftly stresses just how intimately intertwined these individuals have been.
Handsomely photographed by Dion Beebe, Rendition succeeds in placing the viewer in both the blood orange skies of Africa and the soulless corridors of Washington power.
There is a Hollywood gloss to its execution and in some of its narrative developments. There is a sentimental side to the proceedings and an ending that may be rather more upbeat than the situation merits.
Despite those reservations, Hood keeps the story real and believable and has made minimal compromises to reach a wider audience.
He has also secured a string of strong performances with Meryl Streep on chilling form as the implacable face of American intelligence, untroubled by any doubts as to whether the ends justify the means.
It is a performance of such icy, intimidating conviction that it might even see the Oscar stalwart back in contention as Best Supporting Actress.
Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon both surrender their star status to the demands of the ensemble piece with Gyllenhaal continuing to impress with his commitment to intelligent mainstream projects.
Here, he is very convincing as the voice of reason whose conscience is slowly roused into rebellion. Lurking in the shadows with a sceptical gaze or a quizzical frown, he has the presence that make dialogue superfluous.
Omar Metwally captures all the confusion and desperation on an innocent man trapped in a nightmare and Yigal Naor makes Abasi more than a token heavy as his family history and parental concerns show him as both victim and creator of this violent, volatile world.
Production Company
Anonymous Content
Dune Films
Level 1 Entertainment
MID Foundation
New Line Cinema
Producers
Steve Golin
David Kanter
Keith Redmon
Michael Sugar
Marcus Viscidi
Exec prods
Toby Emmerich
Keith Goldberg
Edward Milstein
Paul SChwake
Bill Todman Jr
Screenplay
Kelley Sane
Cinematography
Dion Beebe
Production design
Barry Robison
Editor
Megan Gill
Music
Paul Hepker
Mark Kilian
Main cast
Reese Witherspoon
Jake Gyllenhaal
Meryl Streep
Alan Arkin
Peter Sarsgaard
Religious extremism is the evil of our time; creating those willing to die for a cause and those prepared to sacrifice their core values to prevent them. The murky complexities of the war on terror provide a compelling backdrop to Rendition, a smart, provocative political thriller in which Oscar-winning Tsotsi director Gavin Hood makes a confident move into the Hollywood mainstream.
Careful handling of the emotive material and clear liberal leanings run the risk of preaching to the converted but the film has enough human drama to grip the uncommitted general viewer.
The heavyweight cast should also help to ensure solid theatrical success for a film that is commercially astute in the way it delivers a message without turning into an alienating sermon on morals and motives.
Tsotsi established Hood as a director with the ability to illuminate a difficult situation through a very personal human story.
Rendition repeats the feat on a larger scale, using the fictional fate of an innocent Egyptian-American to expose the American policy of extraordinary rendition and the cycle of violence that demands an eye for an eye.
It has the torn-from-reality feel and bite that will remind older viewers of vintage Costa-Gavras thrillers like Missing and State Of Siege.
The story begins in Cape Town as Egyptian-American chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahim (Omar Metwally) prepares to return home to his pregnant wife Isabella (Witherspoon) and son in Chicago.
In North Africa, CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) narrowly escapes a suicide bombing in which the target appears to have been Abasi Fawal (Yigal Naor).
Nineteen people are killed including one American and CIA boss Corinne Whitman (Streep) wants revenge.
The slimmest of evidence links Anwar to the bombing. Whitman authorises his detention and flight to North Africa where he is imprisoned and tortured.
Isabella embarks on a tenacious campaign to discover what has happened to him using her friendship with a Senator's aide (Sarsgaard) to try and wrestle some answers from a political establishment that would rather turn a blind eye than make waves.
Rendition manages to sustain a balanced approach to a mosaic-like story without tipping the focus towards one element or losing sight of anything that matters. Isabella's struggle behind closed doors in Washington is matched by the conscience-stricken's actions of Freeman and the unfolding story of Abasi's daughter Fatima and her unwitting love affair with suicide bomber Khalid.
A last-minute twist in chronology deftly stresses just how intimately intertwined these individuals have been.
Handsomely photographed by Dion Beebe, Rendition succeeds in placing the viewer in both the blood orange skies of Africa and the soulless corridors of Washington power.
There is a Hollywood gloss to its execution and in some of its narrative developments. There is a sentimental side to the proceedings and an ending that may be rather more upbeat than the situation merits.
Despite those reservations, Hood keeps the story real and believable and has made minimal compromises to reach a wider audience.
He has also secured a string of strong performances with Meryl Streep on chilling form as the implacable face of American intelligence, untroubled by any doubts as to whether the ends justify the means.
It is a performance of such icy, intimidating conviction that it might even see the Oscar stalwart back in contention as Best Supporting Actress.
Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon both surrender their star status to the demands of the ensemble piece with Gyllenhaal continuing to impress with his commitment to intelligent mainstream projects.
Here, he is very convincing as the voice of reason whose conscience is slowly roused into rebellion. Lurking in the shadows with a sceptical gaze or a quizzical frown, he has the presence that make dialogue superfluous.
Omar Metwally captures all the confusion and desperation on an innocent man trapped in a nightmare and Yigal Naor makes Abasi more than a token heavy as his family history and parental concerns show him as both victim and creator of this violent, volatile world.
Production Company
Anonymous Content
Dune Films
Level 1 Entertainment
MID Foundation
New Line Cinema
Producers
Steve Golin
David Kanter
Keith Redmon
Michael Sugar
Marcus Viscidi
Exec prods
Toby Emmerich
Keith Goldberg
Edward Milstein
Paul SChwake
Bill Todman Jr
Screenplay
Kelley Sane
Cinematography
Dion Beebe
Production design
Barry Robison
Editor
Megan Gill
Music
Paul Hepker
Mark Kilian
Main cast
Reese Witherspoon
Jake Gyllenhaal
Meryl Streep
Alan Arkin
Peter Sarsgaard
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