Rendition"", the newly released film from New Line Cinema represents a rare cinematic feat - the delivery of expertly woven social commentary by means of a moving, dramatic film. It dares to take on a subject you won't hear about on network news because of its sensitivity and unfortunately, the way it has been politicized - ""extraordinary rendition.""
The American Civil Liberties Union writes on their website that ""extraordinary rendition is the practice of kidnapping or capturing people and sending them to countries that use torture or abuse.The government has sent detainees to countries infamous for their mistreatment of prisoners, including Syria, Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt."" The website also contains a wealth of pictures and biographies of people who have been victimized by this abhorrent practice.
In the movie, Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) falls victim to this heinous procedure and has to fight for his exoneration. It seems unfortunate that it had to take a popular movie to bring these contentious issues to the forefront but, regardless of the means, the film does an excellent job of exposing the true reality of the legalese term ""extraordinary rendition"" without seeming preachy, self-involved, or like a vehicle for some famous actors to take home Oscars. The film pulls no punches, it contains brutal torture scenes and explores the ways in which rendition is a paradoxical concept - creating more terrorists than it stops.
It's time we as a nation realize what has been obvious for so long in political culture but now is a part of our popular culture as well.
Torture, especially the torture of innocent (or at least, those who have not been proven guilty) individuals, is not a tool of interrogation but rather it is a barbaric crime which ends up giving people the world over real, substantial reasons to hate the United States and our allies.
Violence simply begets and spawns more violence, and in an age where information is readily available, we can no longer blithely turn away from these human rights violations. We must come to accept that the actions carried out by our government are representative of all of us, and we as citizens have a responsibility to use whatever peaceful means available (voting, peaceful protest, etc.) to argue for real changes in the way our country does business.
Kerry Gabrielson is a senior majoring in English and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com_
