Extraordinary Rendition (2007)

Where to begin, as we discuss "Extraordinary Rendition"? Perhaps it might be best to start with the film's positive aspects, and then move onto its negatives. So, here are its PRO's: The performances of the three main leads are quite brilliant. Omar Berdouni - an excellent actor who (with the exception of...say...the big part he played in the first episode of Channel 4's Bernard-Hill-narrated "Ancient Egyptians" several years ago) has of late played numerous characters in 9/11-tinged films (such as "The Kingdom" and two Paul Greengrass films, "United 93" and "Green Zone") and TV shows (notably the BBC drama "Occupation") - plays another character set in a post-9/11 world, only this time is the main focus of the film, instead of a supporting player. From start to finish, Berdouni imbues his thinly written character with enough believability and sympathy for the viewer to care for him as he is plucked from the streets of London, and thrown headfirst into a terrifying and inexplicable situation of endless fear and torture. Berdouni never overdoes it; he keeps his character's emotions cool and calm at the start, and when he is subjected to his horrific ordeal, his anger, frustration and fear can all be seen bubbling under the surface, until cracks start to appear - and when those cracks do break, the result is truly poignant. Ania Sowinski does very well with what little she has to work with, as Berdouni's character's wife. To begin with, her character isn't objectionable at all, and is well above being just a serviceable wife character for the main male protagonist to bounce off of at the film's start. Unfortunately, by the film's end, her character becomes terribly predictable and unreasonably whiny, for reasons that the film never takes the time to explain (if it even has a reason with which to help explain her ultimate behaviour). But the real star of the film, once again becoming a major scene-stealer (even for such a dark role), is Andy Serkis. He plays a haggard, fatigued and despicable interrogator, whose job it is to extract the information he believes Berdouni's character has, but clearly doesn't have. Serkis doesn't play this person as a straight-up evil bad guy - by his own word (which may or may not be true), he's a man with a family, trying to earn his keep through this job that he hates. True to his character's form, he almost makes you think that this might be true, and almost makes Berdouni's character think that he did something to deserve the punishment he goes through. As for the torture scenes, they are as about as horrifying as you might expect. Eventually, the process of having seen so much of this horror played out before your eyes (the most unsettling torture scene being the one involving "dry drowning") leaves the viewer exhausted - probably something the film-makers fully intended. But now for the CON's: As hinted above, the script isn't particularly well fleshed out and written. The characters are mere sketches of proper human beings, leaving the actors to have to try and do the fleshing out themselves. The story is provocative and disturbing, but it lacks the proper hefty dramatic weight needed to make it stick in the mind. As well as that, the structure of the story aims for a Christopher Nolan-esque non-chronological story jumble, which in this film's case makes the proceedings occasionally confusing. There's no real need or reason for this shuffling of story chapters to take place, other than for some stylistic verve. Unfortunately, the film doesn't really have the metaphorical meat on its bones, nor the running time, nor the budget, for this to work properly. The editing, meanwhile, is almost unwatchably choppy. If you've seen the "Transformers" films and think their editing is too slipshod, then prepare to re-evaluate that opinion. And overall, the film feels just far too rushed. Its running time is only 77 minutes! Even an episode of "Sherlock" is longer than this. All through the film, I kept catching myself thinking that a lot of the scenes needed to be slightly longer, to allow the atmosphere of each scene to breath and be fully appreciated. It's hard to explain with words, but if you ever see the film, you'll know what I mean. In the end, it's a film with admirably dark and provocative themes, pulled off with a tiny budget, great acting, and which does what it sets out to do - shock, disturb and make you think. But technically, it could've been done so much better, with a better eye for characters, atmosphere, tension, and drama...

I read the case for this film and thought this sounds good. I check out reviews on here and thought could be very good but I was bitterly disappointed. This film struggles to keep you watching it. It is almost like they didn't know where to focus their attention. The acting wasn't amazing, its also a really short film (almost as if they were struggling for enough film time) it was just a really bad film. Makes a lot more sense on why I was able to buy it from pound land now. I DO NOT recommend this film unless you are looking for something to write a bad review about on here, in which case its perfect.Low budget, little talent and just not well made.That's 77 minutes of my life I would like back please

Rather shocking drama, even after seeing documentaries about torture at Guantanamo, the concept of extraordinary rendition and the Hollywood version "Rendition" released in the same year. I don't really get why the Hollywood version was made at all, and so shortly after this film was released. This film succeeds very well in not only depicting the horrors that Zaafir goes through (the torture scenes are very difficult to watch sometimes) but also the aftermath of his ordeal. When the main character from "Rendition" comes home he happily cuddles his wife and newborn baby and that's it for a happy ending. Not very realistic in my opinion. This film shows how a man that endured such horrors as Zaafir did can't just pick up his old life again but is left scarred, probably for the rest of his life. It also shows that the way Muslims are treated by Western society can, in some cases, drive them into the arms of radical Islam. It's not explicitly stated in this film that this was the case for Zaafir, but he was at least much more into religion then he was before he was abducted and tortured. As for the acting; the actor playing Zaafir was very intense and Andy Serkis also did a fine job as the menacing interrogator. I'd say: forget the Hollywood version with the Big Names and Big Budget, watch this instead.

In the last few years, torture has become an indelible part of the film industry. Exhibit A: Saw, Hostel or any season of 24 from Day 2 onwards. Exhibit B: real-life footage that ends up on the internet. After 9/11, such material, while still disturbing, is no longer a rarity, but almost a customary element to insert in genre pictures (horror and thrillers, especially if political). As the latest addition to this trend, Extraordinary Rendition provides very little that hasn't already been told, its basic plotting and documentary-like execution making it come off as a poor man's 24.Instead of examining the methods that are used to extract information from well known terrorists, Jim Threapleton's feature focuses on the secret sections of governments all over the world that abduct innocent people and throw unfounded accusations at them. One such innocent person is Zaafir (Omar Berdouni), a London-based teacher who is found brutally beaten at Heathrow Airport in the movie's opening sequence. As he recovers and his girlfriend tries to get him to tell everyone what happened, those events unfold on the screen: we are shown the kidnapping, the container where he is held at first, the plane that takes him somewhere in the Middle East, the terrifying procedures that are used on him while a mysterious interrogator (Andy "Gollum" Serkis) continuously asks the same questions about some criminal Zaafir is supposed to know.The torture sequences are gruesome, and the added realism coming from the hand-held cameras and grainy cinematography ensure Threapleton manages to shock viewers with his argument: every day people are randomly abducted and harmed in all possible ways simply because they come from certain places or are associated with somebody who in return is associated with somebody else. This point of view is reflected very well: the interrogator never supplies any actual proof of the fact that Zaafir really knew the terrorist his organization is looking for, strengthening the theory that the poor fella was taken just because he was an Arab. That it never is specified what government Serkis works for also contributes to conveying the idea of this kind of thing being common everywhere.And yet... something is missing, and that's because the director gives too much attention to the wrong section of the film:like I said before, torture is not that hard to see nowadays, meaning the largest chunk of the movie eventually becomes wearing. Too much time is wasted on the "during", while Threapleton should have cared more about constructing the "before" (providing a solid back-story that would have made the protagonist easier to empathize with) and, more crucially, the "after", analyzing the effects of these illegal actions. Sadly, that is merely a footnote in the narrative, leaving audiences understandably unimpressed by a flick that has important things to say but is unable to articulate them convincingly.