The official, real-world term "rendition" refers to the covert apprehension and transport of suspected terrorists or other subversive individuals to countries outside of the U.S. and its laws of due process, in order to gain needed information from said individuals through sometimes extreme measures. Unoffi-cially, these methods may(and more than likely do) include torture to extract the information. This policy was signed into effect via a presidential directive by Bill Clinton in 1995. Its use has increased significantly post-9/11.
The movie Rendition deals with one such fictional case brought into being under this directive. Anwar El-Ibrahimi(Omar Metwally) is a scientist specializing in the use of highly volatile chemicals, who is put under rendition on his way home to the U.S. from Africa, following a terrorist bombing in a public square which was itself a failed attempt to assassinate a high-ranking Egyptian official. Meryl Streep plays Corrine Whitman, a high operative in the CIA who gives the word to her subordinate Lee Mayer(J.K. Simmons) to authorize the rendition. Mayer in turn passes the buck of official observer to Douglas Freeman(Jake Gyllenhaal), a young man out of his depth and element; he isn't usually privy to torture cases, but has no choice to step in, as the man who does these types of things(David Fabrizio) was one of the bystanders killed in the terrorist blast...and besides, Douglas is unlucky enough to be on Egyptian soil already.
Unknowingly caught in the middle of all of this is Anwar El-Ibrahimi's pregnant American wife, Isabella(Reese Wither-spoon), who has no explanation for their first-born son(Aramis Knight) as to why daddy wasn't on the plane when it touched down on U.S. soil. Turning to an old ex-boyfriend(Peter Sarsgaard) who now happens to work for powerful Senator Hawkins(played with spirit by veteran Alan Arkin), Isabella finds out that a member of a terrorist cell supposedly called her husband's cell phone some time ago, and that connection is the reason he's being held. From that point on, Isabella tries her best to find someone--anyone--who can help bring her husband home.
Although at its heart Rendition is an anti-torture platform for director Gavin Hood(Tsotsi, the upcoming Wolverine), it actual-ly does find a type of balance for both sides of the argument, albeit temporarily. The film is a mixture of several different ideas though, and while they all share equal value, they are at the mercy of the various actors' performances, which are uneven depending on who's on screen. Yigal Naor(Munich, The Mummy Lives), who plays Abasi Fawal, the high ranking official intended to die in the blast and who also serves as primary interrogator of El-Ibrahimi, carries a sure and weighty presence to him. It's a pleasure watching him on the screen. Meryl Streep--considered by many to be the greatest living actress of our age--seems to sleepwalk through her role as Corrine Whitman, and gives no hint of either moral ambiguity about what she does, or firm conviction in such acts. Alan Arkin as Senator Hawkins is always a delight to behold. He delivers fire in his condemnation of his aide when he delivers inappropriate threats to Whitman. Reese Witherspoon, in spite of her Oscar win for Walk The Line, fails to live up to that benchmark here. And if there is any one singular fatal flaw in the casting, it's with placing Jake Gyllenhaal at the center of the film.
I've never really been a fan of Gyllenhaal, but I could never figure out why. He was one of those actors whose films I never went out of my way to see, and whose presence would actually bug me a bit if he was in a film I desired to watch. Now, I finally know the reason...his facial expression never changes in the slightest! It doesn't matter whether he's receiving orders from Simmons, whether he's getting chewed out by Streep, whether he's viewing the brutal interrogation of El-Ibrahimi, or if he's having covert sex with his incredibly hot co-worker and subord-inate Safiya(Hadar Ratzon, in her acting debut). And trust me... I don't understand how any man could have just one facial expression while making love to someone that beautiful. Per-haps he actually died some years ago, and someone in Holly-wood found a way to reanimate his corpse.
As for the one true strength--and greatest appeal--of the picture, it surprisingly doesn't lie in the interrogation of Anwar and whether or not he's guilty. The true power of the film comes from the Romeo & Juliet tale of Fatima Fawal(Zineb Oukach), daughter of official Abasi, and her love affair with commoner boy Khalid(Moa Khouas). Fatima is to be married to another boy her father has chosen for her, and so she runs away to live in secrecy with Khalid at his grandmother's house. This is the acting debut for Zineb Oukach, and she delivers her lines with the sincerity and command of a twenty year veteran. If she stays the course and secures bigger and better roles, I guarantee she will be a force to be reckoned with in time.
Rendition tells its story in a slow, deliberate manner as it reaches different crescendos and lowers its volume before moving on to the next. I was thoroughly into this movie, and was ready to list it as one of the best I'd seen in a while...until the last twenty minutes, wherein the story makes a turnaround which completely wipes out all good graces it had built up beforehand. A friend of mine recently observed that there seems to be some new, insidious trend in Hollywood, where no one knows how to end their films anymore...as if midway through the script, the writer suddenly had a massive brain cramp and just couldn't figure out a logical way to end what might have been a very intense, moving and engrossing tale. Recent examples of this baffling phenomena would be Resur-recting the Champ, Halloween(well, that one just sucked over-all), The Brave One, In The Valley Of Elah, and especially Eastern Promises.
I was debating whether or not to give away the "reveal", which is itself another disturbing trend in the new Hollywood storytelling...but I chose not to. You see, until those last twenty minutes, Rendition is a fairly strong film--particularly the Egyp-tian Romeo & Juliet portion--and deserves to be judged by an audience on the rest of its merits. Whether or not you're opposed to the idea of rendition itself, that debate needs to be opened up...particularly in an election year, with the fate of the U.S. hanging in the balance as always. No matter if you're a Republican or a Democrat, many on either side hate it openly while are simultaneously secretly happy that such a method does sometimes work, if it ultimately keeps lives safe.
Rendition, you see, affects us all.
Cinematic Diplomacy
New movie weighs the pros & cons of one of our newest, darkest policies
Rendition does its best to balance both sides of the titular argument evenly...and for the most part, it succeeds.
Anwar's plight is a mirror for the fears many naturalized U.S. immigrants must feel, in a post-9/11 world.
In this intense scene, Jake Gyllenhaal searches the web for clues on how to become a human boy.
Seeing no other way to save her husband, Isabella(Wither-spoon) turns to ex-boyfriend Alan(Peter Sarsgaard) for help.
Meryl Streep sleepwalks through her role as CIA official Whit-man, while Alan Arkin commands attention as Senator Hawkins.
