One of a number of post-9/11-themed films being released this fall, Rendition is the first to deploy its Hollywood magic in the defense of civil liberties. The title comes from the U.S. policy of “extraordinary rendition”: the act of shipping terror suspects overseas, where they can be tortured with impunity. The plot finds an Egyptian-born American man (Omar Metwally) caught in the wrong race at the wrong time, his phone having allegedly received calls from a terrorist who just blew up a North African city square. Metwally is whisked away to a detention center, with CIA newcomer Jake Gyllenhaal assigned to oversee his interrogation.

The story is split between two families on either side of the torture debate, with Gyllenhaal as the unifying thread. On one side is the accused terrorist sympathizer, with his blond American wife (Reese Witherspoon) desperately exploiting all of her political contacts to find out what has happened to her husband. On the other side is the Egyptian torturer (Yigal Naor) and his rebellious daughter, who has befriended a guy with radical connections. While the American family critiques torture from the emotional side, the Egyptian family guides us through a familiar logical proposition: for every person who is tortured, the number of radicals who would avenge that act increases exponentially.

Like director Gavin Hood’s Oscar-winning Tsotsi, Rendition is ultimately a story of a man coming to terms with his own innate decency. Gyllenhaal is faced with the burden of choosing between due process and the possibility of saving lives—between what he believes to be true and an inhuman government mandate. Rendition could be celebrated solely for the fact that it’s a political thriller that actually has something relevant to say about politics.

RENDITION DIR. GAVIN HOOD | RATED R | AT THEATERS EVERYWHERE

Tags: Film, politics, rendition, torture