If you’re interested in seeing this movie, you likely already know about the recent policy, allegedly much favored by the Bush administration, of “extraordinary rendition,” in which terrorism suspects are spirited away to foreign countries for questioning. In this way, it is said, cumbersome internal prohibitions against torturing suspects can be evaded. This is a fictional tale of one such interrogation and the events surrounding it, told on two continents. Omar Metwally plays the Egyptian-born American who is detained while flying home from a conference in South Africa and flown to an unnamed Arab country. Meryl Streep plays the CIA head who orders this. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the operative who observes as the Arab secret police chief interrogates the American in connection with a deadly suicide bombing. Coincidentally, the Arab chief’s estranged daughter seems to have gotten herself involved with a radical of the sort he is trying to stop.
Meanwhile, in the US, the captive’s wife (Reese Witherspoon) uses a DC connection to try to figure out why her husband never returned from his trip. This part is somewhat less predictable than what happens to her husband, but in truth there is only one major twist in the way that the story is structured. The husband is suspected based on his nationality and one piece of circumstantial evidence. Either he’s completely innocent or the twist is that he’s an awesome liar. In any case, Gyllenhaal is put in the position that we are, trying to figure out which, but I think he’ll take longer.
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