Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #641 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A politically-charged, compelling drama, Rendition sees director Gavin Hood follow up the extraordinary, Oscar-winning Tsotsi with another challenging, quality piece of cinema. This time, his attention focuses on the story of a man who is kidnapped, and shipped off to be imprisoned abroad. The reason? Suspected terrorism. And his wife has no idea where he is and what's happened.

In lesser hands, Rendition could have really struggled to make its mark, but Hood very much knows what he's doing, and his film is excellent, right up to--and including--its final reel. His cast help him immensely, with Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep offering terrific support to the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Rendition does have some problems. Its pace sometimes wavers a little, some of the roles are slighter than you'd like, and sometimes the American-based elements pull the film back. But these are minor gripes that seem unfair to level at an ambitious drama, that is fearless about addressing issues of morality. Tightly woven on the whole, and sticking in your head long after the end credits have rolled, Rendition is intelligent film-making, that pulls very few punches. Those after an action feast are clearly advised to head in the other direction; those looking for a film to engage the brain are very much welcome, and set to be richly rewarded. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon star in this timely thriller about a woman whose husband is kidnapped and taken to a foreign prison because he is suspected of being a terrorist. Gavid Hood, director of Academy Award winner TSOTSI, helms this film that also features Alan Arkin, Meryl Streep, and Peter Sarsgaard.

Customer Reviews

Improvement on the 2006 Editions
Gavin Hood's film follows on a spate of releases that cast different perspectives on the War on Terrorism. In the Left corner we have Michael Winterbottom's "The Road to Guantanamo," which pulls no punches in its attack on American policies of internment but follows a dubious bunch of people indeed to make its points. In the Right corner we have "Flight 93" and "World Trade Center," which recreate the events of 11th September 2001 (weapon and target, respectively). These two films dramatise the attacks in New York city but obviously ask no questions about what followed.

"Rendition" is a fine attempt at a middle ground between the liberals' criticism of violent American internment policies and the conservatives' feelings of fear that militant Islamic extremists will likewise use violence whenever they can. On balance, it comes down more on the side of scepticism where internment is concerned. We are shown that tortured people (Omar Metwally's character) will say anything to escape, and the implication here is that the effectiveness of torture is questionable. However, we also hear (from Meryl Streep's character) that the extraction of information in this way has saved thousands of lives in London. So there you have it: the two different perspectives in conflict. Clearly it's hard to pin down right and wrong in absolute terms, and the film is certainly food for thought for anyone who has already come out in one corner or the other. The film's a definite improvement on the aforementioned efforts of 2006, though we can certainly hope for perspectives to balance still further.

Excellent film - must be watched - moving & disturbing
This was an absolutely brilliant film and my family and I all loved it.

Was a bit hard-going to begin with - with some sub-titles, but then things soon settled down, it's not a film for back-ground noise or you'll miss the plot and get bored.

great cast - well acted.

the story-line is disturbing and actually quite scarey considering i work in a government background and never had any idea this sort of thing was happening and actually instigated by government.

I've seen many of the films which came after the events of 9/11, some have been good, other's not so good, but this one goes at the issue of terrorism from a different angle and makes you actually consider what's happening with security to prevent such atrosities from happening in the future - not sure i'd agree with these methods, but am not naive to the fact that it happens, and think people should know about it.

Would definitely watch again - am sure there are things I missed the first time round and think this is one of those films that you'll get something new / different from each time you watch it.

it also has some romance in it which is quite refreshing considering the intensity of the rest of th film, but even this has it's own little twist - wont spoil it - watch to find out :)

recommended for anyone interested in political issues, suspense or thrillers etc.

Thought provoking
Rendition refers to 'extraordinary rendition' -- a term recently adopted whereby suspected terrorists in the US can be sent, without the legal consent of their parents nations, to prisons abroad to be questioned and detained. Its become a buzz word lately because (as Meryl Streep points out) "we have no torture in the US".

Anwar Al-Ibrahim is a highly-paid professional who has lived in the US for 20 yrs, is married to an American, holds a green-card but was born in Egypt. When a bomb goes off in an Arab country and an American is killed the Americans want somebody to pay. Anwar Al-Ibrahim is the guy they target and after he lands from his business trip he finds himself escorted out of the airport, hooded and shoved on a plane to a `friendly' country where the US can sit idly by and watch him being tortured for a confession while professing that "we have no torture in the US". Rendition at its best.

The performances in this movie were outstanding. Reese Witherspoon is Anwar's wife who while in the latter stages of pregnancy tries her best to find out what happened to her husband with the help of old friend and Senators Aide played by Peter Sarsgaard who uses his contacts to try find out what happened to his friend. Jake Gyllenhall is on the other side of the world watching Anwar being tortured and wrestling with his conscience as the evidence he's seen implicating Anwar is weak at best. Meryl Streep is the CIA hotshot whose conscience evades her as regards torturing suspects and she portrays the face of rendition for me - power hungry politicians who give the orders when there is little or no evidence to substantiate the claims.

It wasn't a pretty movie to watch but then again it wasn't meant to be. In many respects rendition reminds me of interment which was a buzzword in the UK & Ireland in the 70's and 80's when the IRA campaign was at its height and where it looked like there was no other solution, suspected terrorists were imprisoned without trial. History has shown that in that case it did more harm than good and I fear the same will be show of rendition in the coming years.

Rendition is a powerful film that caused quite a stir but which needed to be made.