Rendition (2007)

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 ... See full summary »

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 C.I.A. 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, but the person behind this refuses to help or give her any information.

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Plot Keywords:

bare chested male bondage | cape town south africa | watching television | american | interrogation | 

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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:

Warner Bros. [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Détention secrète

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$27,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,060,012, 21 October 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$9,736,045, 15 November 2007

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,038,732

Company Credits

Production Co:

Anonymous Content, Level 1 Entertainment, MID Foundation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

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, rumored to have been involved with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. In 2004, El-Masri was arrested and transferred to a "black" site in Afghanistan where he was interrogated, beaten, sexually abused, and tortured for five months before the C.I.A. released him, admitting that his capture and torture were a mistake.

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Goofs

During the scene where Abasi Fawal is watching the footage of the bombing on Al Jazerra, the news crawl in Arabic on the bottom of the TV is moving left-to-right (as it does when there is a news crawl in English). However, the crawl should move right-to-left, since Arabic is read right to left.

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Quotes

Corrine Whitman: I'm very sorry for your distress, I wish I could help you with your problem but I simply cannot.
Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi: My problem? My problem?
Senator Hawkins: [overlapping] Young lady, if you just leave your name and information ...
Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi: You have my name. You have my home address, you have my phone number, you have everything! You have my husband!
[they look at each other and begin to leave]
Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi: Please don't walk away from me! Just tell me where he is!
Guard: [restraining her] Ma'am.
Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi: JUST TELL ME HE'S OKAY!

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Connections

Referenced in Bad Movie Beatdown: X-Men Origins Wolverine (2010)

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Soundtracks

Nous-Nous
Written by Paul Hepker and Mark Kilian
Performed by Paw?Lee & Sparks featuring Abdallha El Allouhi and Mustapha Serrage

User Reviews

moving and thought-provoking

Imagine you have just been on a plane for 18 hours. You have been on a business trip to South Africa. You are a high-paid professional. You've lived in the US for 20 years. You are in your thirties, you have a wife a little boy and another baby on the way. One thing, even though you have a green card, you are still Egyptian. On transit you are asked to come with 2 security guards, next thing you know you are overpowered, hooded and chained and after a brief ( but still reasonably civil) interrogation you are to be rendered! This is what happens to Anwar el Ibrahimi at the beginning of the movie. His is a story of pain and ( literally )torture. It's one of several story lines. One follows his wife's attempts to get more information. One follows the (cold) bureaucrats behind the rendition. Another story deals with the family of the man who leads the interrogation of Anwar el Ibrahimi. There are some other stories too and by the end they all neatly come together. Though the more famous actors like Reese Witherspoon ( as the distraught pregnant wife ) Jake Gyllenhaal ( as the CIA rookie forced to watch the interrogation in Northern Africa) and Meryl Streep ( as CIA hotshot Corine Whitman) it is really the more unknown actors that carry the story and give it it's heart. For me the actor playing the unfortunate Mr El Ibrahimi ( Omar Metwally ) was the heart and soul of this movie. His portrayal of a man in distress was shockingly well done. It's almost as if he was being tortured for real! Also Israeli actor Yigal Naor was very impressive as the part worried family-man and part extremely cruel chief of torture. Hard to watch and not exactly fun, but still very worthwhile.