WW and I watched Rendition the other night on a movie channel. I  remembered that the film had pretty much gotten a panning during its brief theatrical release but discussions I'd read on some lefty blogs at the time led me to believe it was much better than the mainstream consensus suggested.

Have to say, politics aside, Rendition is an amazingly good film and one that I can't reccommend highly enough. I see that most reviews here are positive so I won't put too much time in on this. However, a brutally honest (very literally) political film being falsely criticized i.e as a bad film because of its subject matter is pretty despicable. I don't have the full evidence to prove this and Rotten Tomatoes has taken it out of their review scan but that's how I remember it. Its interesting to note the single 1 star wingnut review of Rendition on Epinions - there's your 20% for you (well more like 10% here). Talk about drinking Kool-aid dude. What a joke.

I thought Rendition was actually about as even handed as you can get with this stuff. The reality is pretty cut and dried and this week yet another investigation reconfirmed the criminal nature of what this country (US of A) has been up to. The US Govt has been regularly perpetrating heinous illegal acts with impunity. Thats a simple fact. Rendition is a fictitious depiction of one such act and its complex consequences on a variety of individuals on all sides of the issue. The Government is certainly allowed its say with no less eloquent mouthpiece than Meryl Streep (superb!) among others. It was perhaps a little unfair to make Reese Witherspoon's character so very pregnant but of course young American couples do like to have kids.

Rendition is a depressing, horrible story of illegal false arrest, false imprisonment, and vile torture at the hands of the Govt and a US proxy in North Africa. It is also the story of some of the individuals behind the crimes ("terrorism") that this kind of crime (rendition/torture) is supposed to address and prevent. This is definitely a difficult subject. Rendition not only does an amazing job of telling this story but in a tour de force of wonderful cinema it provides a unique perspective for the viewer to start to make some sense of the cause/effect nature of the problem.

I'm not going to discuss this further to avoid a spoiler but I thought it was just masterfully done and some of the best real cinema I saw this year. Films have unique opportunities to present stories via juxtaposition, time-shifting, reversal, etc. These can certainly be used as hacky gimmics but to use these techniques properly is a real art. Rendition is a definite example of that art and in this case it is used to great and revelatory effect in helping to elucidate a very important question for our time.

The film is suspenseful and entertaining and features an outstanding cast from first to last - particularly the lesser known Middle Eastern actors. It features some gorgeous production and cinematography that really makes these locations come alive from the creepy fluorescent glow of DC offices to the dusty, sun-baked streets of North Africa - and the dark dungeons beneath. WW and I were both very impressed with the film and I think I'd put it on a top-10 list for the year. Wherever you stand on these issues, I think Rendition makes an intelligent and reasonable presentation of its case. Regardless, I found it to be an excellent film and definitely worth a look.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older