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Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, Yigal Naor $14.98 Features:
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Editorial Review:
Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal and Meryl Streep star in this nail- biting thriller about a man who mysteriously disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington DC and the government conspiracy put in place to cover it up.
Roger Ebert called it "perfect," and certainly the timing couldn't have been much better: Rendition was released just as the U.S. was debating anew the issue of "extraordinary rendition," a policy (begun under the Clinton administration, accelerated after September 11, 2001) of handing over suspected terrorists to countries that use torture as an interrogation tool. Alas, the movie only rarely fills in the outlines of a prototypical "issue movie," the kind of thing peopled by cardboard characters tracing the patterns of an important, indeed urgent, subject. The plot kicks into gear when an Egyptian-born man (Omar Metwally) is sent to an unnamed North African country where torture is practiced, with the CIA in approval. The film takes a Crash dive through how this affects various people: his pregnant American wife (Reese Witherspoon), the reluctant CIA agent (Jake Gyllenhaal) on the scene, a severe interrogator (Yigal Naor), all the way up to a U.S. terrorism honcho (Meryl Streep) willing to turn a blind eye to the unpleasantness if it stops a terrorist attack. Things spark briefly when Witherspoon enlists an old beau (Peter Sarsgaard) to plead her case with his boss, a U.S. Senator (Alan Arkin), but for the most part director Gavin Hood (Totsi) can't find a way to color in these line drawings, despite the formidable actors doing spirited work. The issue is fully and lucidly explained, but the movie doesn't come alive. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0 
Thought provoking film: 
Some interesting twists in this one!
The acting is well done. The story is more political than I expected but is worth watching. Character portrayal seems genuine although harsh as probably it needs to be to depict the real world.
The film seems one sided at times as you are pulled into the situation the pregnant wife is facing waiting for for news about her husband after missing from an international trip.
There are no right or wrong answers here. Those in charge are guarded about what...more info
Our dark history: 
Rendition is very well done. It left me speechless and exhausted at the end. This movie is an indictment on the outgoing Bush administration and where our country as descended in human and civil rights.
Torture: American Style:
Films that incorporate a solid political message along with outstanding performances are few and far between. The problem is incorporating the message without ramming it down the audience's throat. Or not losing the audience in a quagmire of politicalese. Syriana suffered from the latter, while this one suffered only slightly under the strain of throat ramming and some poor character development (or minimal screen time).
The film's premise is based on the U.S. legal maneuver known as "extraordinary...more info
Extraordinary Rendition:
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"I fear you speak upon the rack, where men enforced do speak anything."
That's a line from Shakespeare's THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, and it's also a key theme in RENDITION, a disturbing, yet very good film.
Omar Metwally plays an Egyptian citizen, a successful chemical engineer who has lived in the United States since he was 14-years old. He's married to Reese...more info
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