Rendition

Rendition is about an Egyptian-born chemical engineer, Anwar El-Ibrahimi who suddenly became a suspect to a suicide bombing incident. From the point of view of everyone else, he simply disappeared from the airport which doesn’t make sense because the record has shown that he boarded the plane but he never landed. When the truth is, he was escorted to a room and after some interrogation he was taken to a secret location which is where the United State government brings all the suspected terrorists for ‘questioning’.

This movie’s adjective is quite simple actually. To tell us all about ‘Rendition’ which is a real thing. I personally think that this movie was inspired by the Maher Arar’s case, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen and a father of two whom has to endure almost a year of solitary confinement and torture in a prison in Syria. This is where the United States government took him after he was accused of being a member of the Al-Qaeda. They portrayed how desperate the government is after the 9/11 tragedy. Everyone is a suspect, especially when you’re an Arab and by the way, happens to work as a chemical engineer. That pretty much screamed ‘TERRORIST’ in their eyes. Never mind that he’s happily married to a beautiful American wife and have an adorable looking son. Whatever happens to the profile that said ‘bombers are loners’?

My point is, this movie did a spectacular job showing the ugly truth of these people’s paranoia and how it affects those innocent souls out there. Their ‘interrogation’ technique is nothing to be surprise about, although seeing it in the movie really broke my heart. The humiliation, fear of not knowing what is going to happen next, and the confusion... they showed it all. I could only imagine how scared one would be in that condition especially when they don’t even know why or what they did to deserve such treatment. Omar Metwally really did a wonderful job playing the Anwar El-Ibrahimi’s character.

And I must say, seeing Reese Witherspoon whom played the pregnant Isabella Fields El-Ibrahimi trying to locate her husband’s whereabout, she without a doubt managed to grab my sympathy on how helpless and desperate she was when every door is being shut to her face the minute she got to close.

I realized that this movie was slammed by a lot of people out there, saying that it’s being melodramatic and many more. But to me, I think that Rendition is a strong movie and very close to the real truth that most people prefer to deny about. And I applaud those who decided to produce this one no matter what their reasons may be. I know it’s easier to shut your eyes and turn the other way round and not caring, but just think for one second, what if it happens to the person you love? Could you choose to be as ignorant then?

I’m deeply impressed by this movie. A strong one and it certainly left an impact in me. 4 stars, guys!