Date: 30 November 2008 15:22:42
Last night I watched Rendition. Though it starred Rheese Witherspoon she was, thankfully, absent for most of the film. I can't say that I find her to be a particularly talented actress (I refuse to call them actors - it's not grammatically correct). I can't say that I found Jake Gyllenhall that convincing either as the CIA analyst but the rest of the cast was way above average.
It tells the story of an Egyptian, who holds a green card, being forcibly removed upon return to the US from a conference in South Africa. We follow his journey as he is returned to Egypt for interrogation and torture. The film also follows the story of 2 young Egyptian lovers caught up in the sub plot surrounding a suicide bombing at the start of the week. The slightly unbelievable part is that the events all take place over a 7 day period.
I would recommend this film as it contains a good plot twist or two; deals well with the problem of extra juidicial rendition; the blinkeredness of those who carry out the policy and the fact that torture does not lead to good intelligence gathering.
This is Hollywood providing its liberal agenda to modern politics. Not always a bad thing, especially as the liberal opposition has been far from convincing in fighting the Bush policy of non-constitutional justice. It also shows a glimpse of the Arab side of the equation and what can lead someone to become a "martyr".