Movie Review- RENDITION

HEADLINE: ** Absorbing but Unbalanced **
TITLE: RENDITION
Quality: * * * * Acceptability: -3
SUBTITLES: -- Some English subtitles --
WARNING CODES:
Language: LL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: N

RATING: R
RELEASE: October 19, 2007
TIME: 122 minutes
STARRING: Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Omar Metwally, Igal Naor, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Zineb Oukach, and Moa Khouas
DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood
PRODUCERS: Steve Golin and Marcus Viscidi
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Toby Emmerich, Keith Goldberg, David Kanter, Keith Redmon, Michael Sugar, Edward Milstein, Bill Todman, Jr., and Paul Schwake
WRITER: Kelley Sane
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: New Line Cinema

CONTENT: (BB, FR, RH, AP, LL, VVV, S, N, AA, MM) Strong moral worldview contends that torture of suspected terrorists is wrong, especially because the person sometimes may be innocent, but the speech of some Islamic terrorists is mistranslated to refer to God instead of Allah, who historically bears no resemblance to the God of the Bible, and the American government is shown in a bad light with little nuance or balance to the depiction; 12 obscenities (mostly "f" words), three strong profanities and one light profanity; very strong violence when man gets electric shocks in torture scene, plus water is poured over man's head wrapped in nylon during another torture scene, replays of bomb exploding that knocks back people around a market square, waiter shot in chest, man hit by back of hand, man fatally wounded in neck by bomb fragments, and man has blood on shirt; implied fornication and some passionate kissing; rear male nudity and upper male nudity, and man under interrogation is completely naked but little or nothing is clearly shown; alcohol use and man tries to get drunk; no smoking; and, false arrest, foreign national abducted, evidence destroyed by government officials, daughter rebels against father and takes up with a lowly ne'er-do-well.

GENRE: Political Thriller
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults

Please address your comments to:

Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne
Co-Chairman/Co-CEO
New Line Cinema
116 North Robertson Blvd.
Suite 200
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Phone: (310) 854-5811
Fax: (310) 354-1824
Website: www.newline.com

SUMMARY: RENDITION is an anti-torture movie about an Egyptian national married to an American woman, who is falsely arrested by the CIA and taken to Egypt, where he is tortured by Egyptian officials. RENDITION is very well directed with an absorbing script, but it contains some very strong foul language and its depiction of the American government's anti-terror policies is too negative.

IN BRIEF:

In RENDITION, Anwar, the Egyptian husband of an American woman is arrested immediately when he returns from overseas. The CIA has traced phone calls from a known Egyptian terrorist to Anwar's cell phone. They ship Anwar back to Egypt for interrogation by Abasi Fawal, the head of a secret prison, while a CIA agent, Douglas Freeman, watches. Abasi has troubles of his own. His rebellious daughter, Fatima, has fallen in love with a young Muslim being groomed as an Islamic terrorist. While Abasi tortures Anwar with electric shocks, Anwar's pregnant wife travels to Washington, D.C. to get help finding her husband. She enlists the help of a politically connected college friend to find her missing husband, but the CIA's anti-terrorism chief stonewalls their efforts.

RENDITION is very well directed, despite an abundance of characters. The script has a nifty unexpected twist at the end. The only phony note comes surprisingly from Meryl Streep, who turns in a superficial, one-dimensional performance as the CIA anti-terror chief. Though the movie tries to present some balance with its negative depiction of Islamic terrorist leaders, its depiction of America's anti-terrorism policies is too negative.