Rendition

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When a bomb explodes in an unnamed North African city, chief suspect Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Metwally) is illegally arrested by the CIA upon his arrival in the States, and whisked out of the country for interrogation. When he doesn't arrive home, Anwar's wife Isabella (Witherspoon) travels to Washington to ask friend Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgaard), aid to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin), who in turn is tight with anti-terrorist head Corrine Whitman (Streep), for help. Meanwhile, rookie CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (Gyllenhaal), shaken from the bombing that killed his superior, observes Anwar's torture carried out by the tough interrogator and original bomb target Fawal (Igal Naor), whose mind is elsewhere as his daughter Fatima (Zineb Oukach) has been missing for a week. The term 'Rendition' is the kidnapping of terrorist suspects who are then flown into countries where torture is the norm, and Tsotsi director Gavin Hood tackles both sides of the argument. Blurring the lines between right and wrong was always going to be a tough one to pull off, but Hood, along with scriptwriter Kelley Sane, manage it while patiently crafting together the multi-narrative story that climaxes in a cracking twist ending. But for once, a film's success doesn't rely on the believability of the twist; Rendition was an engaging film regardless, and when that twist unexpectedly crops up it's the cherry, not the cake (like finding a money clip on the street, skipping into HMV to finally buy that Bob Dylan back catalogue you've had your eye on, only to be told at the counter that they're all on sale. Bonus!). It's hard to fault anything in Rendition: the story is believable, the characters are well-rounded and fleshed-out, it raises some thought-provoking questions and delivers a timely message. The performances are sound too: Gyllenhaal gets slightly better every time he appears, Witherspoon is okay as the brow-furrowing pregnant wife, while Streep does her ice queen thing again; more The Manchurian Candidate than The Devil Wears Prada here (phew). It's Metwally, Naor and Oukach that steal the show from their American counterparts, however.