Rendition

For a film about so controversial a subject, I found this rather light. It skips over many aspects of the issue, and the narrative technique jumps about quite a lot more than it really needs to.

However, if it does get people talking about this then all the better. The film touches on the blind eye too many people turn to this, and deals with both courage and cowardice. There's an echo of the issues from 'Good Night and Good Luck', particularly the McCarthy attitude so many people in power have. They don't want to take a stand about this issue, because then the government/media will come after them.

Let's make no bones about it, this issue is about state sanctioned torture of suspected terrorists, and the luckily film doesn't shy away from this aspect. It also touches on the whole cycle of violence, but I felt it could have gone into this in more depth.

Rendition also uses a narrative technique that it uses to try to add a twist at the end. Unfortunately, I spotted the technique early on, so the twist was well signposted for me.

Score: C+ I was expecting something more dramatic, but the film shows too many easy answers and completely cops out at one point.

OQ: We have a saying. Beat your wife at least once a day. If you don't know why, then she does.