Review №2

Rendition (2008)

Cast:  Reese Witherspoon,Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal and Omar Metwally

Director: Gavin Hood

Synopsis: When an Egyptian-born chemical engineer disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington, his American wife desperately tries to track him down. Meanwhile, a CIA analyst at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.

Review

Returning home from Capetown Anwar El-Ibrahimi was caught by the US agents and sent to North Africa on suspicion of belonging to the suicide attack. While his pregnant wife Isabella and his son were waiting him home, Anwar was questioned about his connection with this accident. Isabella could not wait any more and asked for her old friend’s help. The latter, an important political figure, tried to search for any information about El-Ibrahimi and found out that the man was subjected to an illegal CIA system of terrorist’s detection. Their arguments against Anwar were only his Egyptian origin and the phone call from the supposed terrorist. The wife knew nothing about her husband, his condition and fault. We can see how the system can broke up someone’s lives. Anwar was an assiduous husband and football coach in an American school but the little circumstances made him be under the press of such “anti-terrorist machine”.

Another American, who was involved in this situation, was a CIA analyst Douglas Freeman. This suicide attack killed his partner and Douglas had to substitute him and become a person observing the El-Ibrahimi’s questioning and tortures. It was something new for him, for one of the mechanisms of this machine. However, his personal feelings and qualities did not let him just observe and, having ascertained in Anwar’s innocence, he released him and departed in the US. Inspecting Freeman’s actions we can make a conclusion that in spite of the job, personal responsibility he made what he thought was the best. And moreover, he created a scandal in the American press giving information about illegal arrest of the Egyptian-born man.

In North Africa Anwar was put to torture by a high-ranking police official Abasi Fawal. Actually, Asabi himself was a target of the suicide attack. He seemed as a rude, imperious person, who used any methods of taking out information. His own daughter Fatima could not make up mind to his desire of creating her life and in spite of the very strong religion – Islam – she left home with her boyfriend Khalid. The girl had no idea about Khalid’s belonging to the terrorist organization and his intention to kill her father through a suicide attack. Having known it she tried to stop him, but it had no sense because if he could not do it himself, the participants would kill him and the bomb would be activated anyway. That was happened, the boy and the girl were killed. In this particular story line we were down-dropped in the atmosphere of terrorism. The place, where the suicide murders were made, was a North African city. Many Muslims were misled and convinced that the one best and right way for them was jihad. Jihad is not as a striving and struggling for Allah, but as a death.

Speaking about performance I can say that I was impressed by all actors, they could show necessary emotions. Reese Witherspoon could show the pain and sorrow of the pregnant wife who was afraid of never meet her husband again. Jake Gyllenhaal showed a self-confident, understanding CIA analyst who can escape from the influence and stand against the wrong actions of the commands. Meryl Streep managed with the role of an iron lady who just does her job on the national security. But most I was impressed by the performance of Khalid’s grandmother. Her feelings and emotions of losing both her grandchildren seemed realistic. I felt with her sorrow.

To sum it up I would like to say that I like the films like this one. It opens very difficult and important themes. But except the main theme – terrorism, it is filled of different problems. The director shows how the most “democratic” country can broke up someone’s lives, how difficult lose the close people and how much pain and sorrow people can bring to each other. Terrorism has only one side – death. None of all religions in the world does not permit to kill people for God, Allah, Buddha or someone else. I do not know about Islam, but in Christianity the suicide is the worth sin. Terrorism cannot be justified by anything and anyone.