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:

Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin

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
Yigal Naor	...	Abasi Fawal (as Igal Naor)
Hadar Ratzon	...	Safiya
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 | cia | interrogation | egyptian | detention | 

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Taglines:

What if someone you love...just disappeared?

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for torture/violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] New Line Cinema [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (USA)

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?

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 Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 20 October 2007 (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Walking Tall"
Composed and Performed by Marcel Khalife
Courtesy of Nagam Cultural Project / Nagam Records, Inc.

User Reviews

What 'the greater good' is should not have to be a forced choice our leaders have to take if we each already decide correctly at the source.

The powerhouse cast pulls the crowd in the theatre, despite the ominous title. Jake Gyllenhaal guested on Conan O'Brien to promote the movie and explained that 'Rendition' was a euphemism for obtaining information via torture. Since 9/11, 'extraordinary rendition' allowed the government's intelligence agency to extricate people unquestioningly without due process and use any means necessary in exchange for information.

Gyllenhaal plays rookie CIA analyst Douglas Freeman (note the irony) who is torn about his assignment which renders him as a mere observer to unorthodox interrogation proceedings at an underground detention facility outside the US.

Omar Metwally plays the suspected terrorist Anwar El-Ibrahimi, Egyptian national and green card-carrying hubby of American Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon). Isabella and her son wait for Anwar to come home from a scientific conference when he suddenly disappears from the plane's passenger manifest. She seeks help from her college friend who works in government and learns that the Head of Intelligence, Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep) is behind it all.

Rendition is directed by Hollywood newbie Gavin Hood (who is set to do X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and begs the question of whether such 'extraordinary rendition' is exercised in real life. The movie was released locally in the wake of the Glorietta explosion (bombing/mishap?), and a pivotal scene in the movie is when a bomb explodes in a public plaza, so that must have sent chills up every moviegoer's spine. Seeing the exploding tableau with a lone red and yellow sign Aajala (Ayala?) on the upper right hand of the screen, plus the effect of silence and slow-moving images magnified the impact of the scene's real-life coincidence.

There are lessons to learn from this movie and it all boils down to personal decisions we make, daily. We all have choices we can exercise at will, and we often do not always (want to) see how these affect others, who may end up as hapless victims of circumstance. What 'the greater good' is should not have to be a forced choice our leaders have to take if we each already decide correctly at the source. Now that's a utopia worth building.