Rendition (DVD)

Truly scary how rendition happens in real life. Wow. Great film! I was glued to the TV. Great actors. Very interesting to what see tactics were used and the results received. Throw on it that this was (allegedly) based on a true story... I was all in.

This movie does a good job of giving often aloof citizens of the American empire a taste of the suffering that is being inflicted by their country. In addition to the violence of our long history of invasions, overthrows, coups and proxy wars; the U.S. (actually, elites based in the West with little allegiance to any country) has waged economic warfare as well  The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism . We're not waging a war on terror, we're waging a war of terror in the interests of Big Business  War, Inc. .One part of this film that would've been more realistic is to have had Gyllenhaal's character be a little meaner. I don't think the CIA would usually hire such a sensitive guy. They like to recruit people who have been indoctrinated by reactionary media agents like Rush Limbaugh (who jokes about how good the conditions at Guantanamo are, despite the fact that dozens of the prisoners have tried to commit suicide). Although, every once in a while CIA agents have a change of heart and speak out against what they know is evil, including former agents like John Stockwell  The Praetorian Guard : The US Role In The New World Order  and Phil Agee  Inside the Company CIA Diary . Ominously, dirty work once done with some degree of government oversight is now being privatized  Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing .We don't like to admit it for fear of being labelled paranoid, but the 'land of the free' is becoming like a police state with a growing complex of agents, money and authority being handed over to the CIA, FBI, DIA, ICE, NSA, DEA and others. Why don't right-wingers ever complain about this form of big government? They always complain about public schools and agencies like the EPA and OSHA, but are silent when it comes to the budget of agencies like the CIA (which, is secret but estimated at around $50 billion). They probably don't mind that form of big government because they have lucrative careers in it.Hopefully people will continue to resist this sort of tyranny and the harm it has brought to people and democracy worldwide. The Road to Guantanamo Speaking Freely, Vol. 4: Chalmers Johnson on American Hegemony Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government What Would Jefferson Do?: A Return to Democracy  - see also Thom Hartmann's excellent radio program. Yes!  A wonderful magazine for discovering what we the people can, and are, doing about a wide-array of issues.

After the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, several security measures were taken to protect the United States and its citizens. Among them, Congress passed the Patriot Act which gave the US Government unprecedented powers to gather intelligence and pursue terrorists. Rendition is the horrific story of what happens when the process nets an innocent person.The USG, whose policies oppose any form of torture in this country, sought other means to extract information. Working with other countries whose policies did not ban torture and who were willing to accept these suspected terrorists, the USG sent such suspected terrorists to them. In the process, there was no requirement for due process of law and an individual's rights. Thus, a person could just simply disappear for years and nobody would notify family, friends or legal authorities. The process is called "extraordinary rendition".The film raises fascinating questions about an individual's rights under such circumstances, vis a vis the safety and future security of our country. Clearly, when an innocent person is caught in this web, we feel horrified, debased and ashamed. But, there are always costs, and if a few individuals are mistakenly tortured when society at large is saved from the greater threat of thousands dying, is rendition an imperfect policy or a necessary strategy to protect this country?The disc also contains a documentary called "outlawed" which chronicles the real life stories of two men from different parts of the world who underwent such experiences.The film is beautifully made in the United States and Morocco. Meryl Streep is terrific as the US Government official ordering rendition, as is Omar Metwally, who plays the tortured individual. However, Reese Witherspoon, normally an excellent actress, as the missing man's wife seems to equate being a zombie with acting, giving a very disappointing performance. Jake Gyllenhaal is equally unimpressive as the US Government official assigned to represent the USG during the torture process. The film succeeds despite these two lackluster performances, and is a thriller well worth watching.

Excelentes actuaciones y muy buena trama Jake Gyllenhaal el mejor

Tante storie sul povero Regeni, che tutti noi compiangiamo con trasporto indicibile.Però anche i cattivi, che cattivi non sono perché sono posti là a tutela di tutti noi, privilegiati, hanno le loro ragioni.Il punto, allora, è stare alla larga dal fuoco, se non ti vuoi scottare.Oppure vai, ma dopo non puoi prendertela con nessuno, se non con la tua imprudenza.Questo è quello che ho visto in questo spigoloso film.

Fascinante film de denuncia que con la estética de una realización propia de un "spin off" de la aclamada serie "24", que nos trae sin embargo recuerdos del cine de denuncia de Costa Gavras ("Z", "La confesión","Missing") o de Gillo Pontecorvo ("La Batalla de Argel", "Queimada") entre otros muchos directores y que en este caso nos pone de actualidad que, tras los tristes sucesos del atentado del 11S en Nueva York y otros puntos de EE. UU. la paranoia colectiva y de los poseres públicos desatada en pos de la seguridad nacional, pone de manifiesto los turbios manejos de la todopoderosa CIA de los que, al parecer, fueron victimas inocentes ciudadanos confundidos con presuntos terroristas. Todo ello narrado con un adecuado sentido del ritmo y unas ajustadas interpretaciones subrayadas por una buena fotografía y adecuada partitura musical, si bien el guión, en algún momento puede resultar algo confuso. No obstante es un film de visión más que recomendable.

During the G.W. Bush years, there were several schlocky movies drawing on various aspects of the so-called 'war on terror.' This film is not one of them. *Rendition* should be required viewing for at least two groups: Canadians who couldn't be bothered to get worked up about the Maher Arar case, and Americans who support Obama's decision to 'move on' and forget about holding the Bush administration accountable for its egregious crimes. It's about what the US (along with its vassal-state allies, including Canada) is prepared to do to a lot of innocent people -- and the billions of taxpayer dollars it's prepared to spend on it -- rather than simply changing its foreign policy or, better yet, getting out of the empire business altogether. The 'war on terror' almost completely de-legitimized the United Nations, and there is no longer even a pretense of lawfulness among Western nations. Watching this film made me realize just how deeply inadequate Obama's beautiful Cairo speech (June '09) was with respect to healing the wounds perpetrated by Orientalism and Islamophobia. *Rendition* stands with *Syriana* and *The Valley of Elah* as the most valuable films about the dark years of the Bush regime.

Completamente soddisfattoGrazie