Rendition (2007)

When a terrorist bombing in North Africa kills 19 incl. an American, an Egyptian chemical engineer flying from South Africa to his wife in USA, is arrested upon arriving USA. He disappears. His wife asks senator for help.

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:

interrogation | terrorism | torture | police | airport | 

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Taglines:

Some people know to Much

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for torture/violence and language

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

In the beginning when Anwar is in Cape Town, South Africa, according to the shadows cast by the men in Anwar's party, it's about 1 pm. He makes a call to Isabella in Chicago, United States when he apologizes for not calling her earlier. Cape Town is 8 hours ahead of Chicago, it would have been pitch dark in Chicago at that time but Isabella is outside in the midday sun playing soccer with Jeremy.

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Quotes

Abasi Fawal: We have a saying, "Beat your woman every morning. If you don't know why, she does."

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Connections

Referenced in The Factor: Episode dated 2 April 2008 (2008)

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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

Masterful and Topical

Rendition presents a very topical matter in the form of a very tense thriller. It's a gripping, and not a preaching, movie. Seeing it in an Arab country with a mixture of Arabian and European audience gave it an extra level of atmosphere. The audience was totally gripped by the film and gave it a loud applause afterwards. The story of an Egyptian, married to an American, picked up on the suspicion of links to terrorist organizations and shipped to a friendly (with US) Arab country for "enhanced interrogation (as Meryl Streep's character states in the film: "we have no torture in the US") seems to be from the front page of todays news. There is a very neat link between the various characters which appear in the movie and the pace of the film never drops. The movies'message seems to be (as stated by Jake Gyllenhal's character in the film) that by abducting and torturing suspects you create many more terrorists. The acting is uniformly excellent with Streep and Reese Witherspoon the stand outs. Not to be missed.

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [Germany]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

19 October 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rendition

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$27,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,670,000, 21 October 2007

Gross USA:

$9,736,045

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,066,382

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