Rendition (2007)

A CIA analyst questions his assignment after witnessing an unorthodox interrogation at a secret detention facility outside the US.

Director:

Gavin Hood

Writer:

Kelley Sane

Stars:

Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Douglas Freeman
Reese Witherspoon	...	Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi
Meryl Streep	...	Corrine Whitman
Alan Arkin	...	Senator Hawkins
Peter Sarsgaard	...	Alan Smith
Omar Metwally	...	Anwar El-Ibrahimi
Igal Naor	...	Abasi Fawal
Hadar Ratzon Rotem	...	Safiya (as Hadar Ratzon)
J.K. Simmons	...	Lee Mayer
Simon Abkarian	...	Said Abdel Aziz
Moa Khouas	...	Khalid El-Emin
Zineb Oukach	...	Fatima Fawal
Aramis Knight	...	Jeremy El-Ibrahimi
Rosie Malek-Yonan	...	Nuru El-Ibrahimi
Laila Mrabti	...	Lina Fawal

Storyline

After a terrorist bombing kills an American envoy in a foreign country. An investigation leads to an Egyptian who has been living in the United States for years and who is married to an American. He is apprehended when he's on his way home. The U.S. sends him to the country where the incident occurs for interrogation which includes torture. An American CIA operative observes the interrogation and is at odds whether to keep it going or to stop it. In the meantime, the man's wife raises hell to find him despite being pregnant but the person behind this refuses to help or give her any information.

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Plot Keywords:

american | interrogation | cia | detention | egyptian | 

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Taglines:

Some people know to Much

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Détention secrète

Filming Locations:

Anaheim Convention Center - 800 W. Katella Avenue, Anaheim, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£583,345 (UK) (19 October 2007)

Gross:

£2,448,581 (UK) (9 November 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anonymous Content, Level 1 Entertainment, MID Foundation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri, a German citizen who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri, a man rumored to have been involved with the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. El-Masri was held an a black site in Afghanistan in 2004 where he was interrogated, beaten, sexually abused, and tortured for 5 months, after which the CIA released him and admitted his capture and torture were a mistake.

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Goofs

The view from Senator Hawkins' office (which is supposed to be in Washington, D.C.) shows the Los Angeles County Courthouse. From the angle, his office is on the South corner of 1st and Hill Streets. A flag pole with the California state flag flying below the US flag is also visible.

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Quotes

Douglas Freeman: In all the years you've been doing this, how often can you say that we've produced truly legitimate intelligence? Once? Twice? Ten times? Give me a statistic; give me a number. Give me a pie chart, I love pie charts. Anything, anything that outweighs the fact that if you torture one person you create ten, a hundred, a thousand new enemies.

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Connections

Featured in HBO First Look: Two Sides of a Story: The Making of 'Rendition' (2007)

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Soundtracks

Camel Jam
Written by Paul Hepker and Mark Kilian
Performed by Paw?Lee & Sparks featuring Pedro Eustache

User Reviews

Rendition

"I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything." This Shakespearean line from The Merchant of Venice is echoed again in the new film Rendition which introduces the viewer to the "enhanced methods of interrogation", renditions, which began in the Clinton Administration and have become more commonplace since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

The film features an all-star cast, with Oscar winners Meryl Streep, Alan Arkin, and Reese Witherspoon, as well as Peter Sarsgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Omar Metwally. Supporting roles filled by unfamiliar actors deliver as well, sucking the audience into the plot, and showing how many people can be affected by overseas terror attacks, and our means of investigating them.

Rendition follows an Egyptian born terrorism suspect (Metwally) who is taken by U.S. officials following his flight from South Africa to Washington DC to an undisclosed prison overseas. His pregnant wife (Witherspoon) ventures to Washington DC to find out about his disappearance through a family friend and Senator's employee (Sarsgaard). Gyllenhaal plays a young CIA analyst at the overseas detention facility who monitors the violent interrogation.

This film follows the emotional plights of the torture victim (Metwally), and those involved in obtaining the supposed information from him. Some, like the CIA analyst (Gyllenhaal), are visibly shaken and horrified by the methods exercised, while others, the stern Senator (Streep) and foreign interrogator (Yigal Naor), see it as necessary and effective.

The film may be described by some as a political piece, but is ultimately an emotional one. Metwally's performance as the tortured prisoner is Oscar-worthy. The film does not intend to preach, but rather to question and inform the audience on a topic that does not often have a human face put on it. Renditions have been known to work, but have also been known to produce false information from innocent prisoners. The film simply depicts the emotional struggles of those involved in such grave business, and does so in a way that will affect every viewer differently. The film will keep your interest, and have you engaged in each of the character's plights.