Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new movie about the controversial practice of "extraordinary rendition" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new movie about the controversial practice of "extraordinary rendition" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-10-24T23:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/rendition_movie.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hesham Hassaballa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hesham Hassaballa\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/\",\"name\":\"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-10-24T23:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-10-24T23:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/e31949b09c4e0ecaf55815f6c1d817f4\"},\"description\":\"A new movie about the controversial practice of \\\"extraordinary rendition\\\" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/e31949b09c4e0ecaf55815f6c1d817f4\",\"name\":\"Hesham Hassaballa\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8ce88a8f9463eb260b148987e73c611?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8ce88a8f9463eb260b148987e73c611?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hesham Hassaballa\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/heshamhessaballa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”","description":"A new movie about the controversial practice of \"extraordinary rendition\" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”","og_description":"A new movie about the controversial practice of \"extraordinary rendition\" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2007-10-24T23:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/rendition_movie.jpg"}],"author":"Hesham Hassaballa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hesham Hassaballa","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/","name":"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-10-24T23:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-10-24T23:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/e31949b09c4e0ecaf55815f6c1d817f4"},"description":"A new movie about the controversial practice of \"extraordinary rendition\" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2007\/10\/nothing_ordinary_about_rendition\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Movie "Rendition": Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/e31949b09c4e0ecaf55815f6c1d817f4","name":"Hesham Hassaballa","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8ce88a8f9463eb260b148987e73c611?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8ce88a8f9463eb260b148987e73c611?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hesham Hassaballa"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/heshamhessaballa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/520"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Come see our travel agent<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\u201cExtraordinary rendition,\u201d \u201ctorture,\u201d \u201ccivil rights,\u201d \u201cnational security.\u201d Though these are words that are bandied around in the news and popular consciousness a lot these days, they are also faceless, shapeless concepts that are difficult to fully understand. Yes, they may receive brief media attention from time to time, but they almost always fade from public consciousness. As the television journalist in the film \u201cHotel Rwanda\u201d (played by Joaquin Phoenix) said, \u201cpeople will say \u2018That\u2019s terrible\u2019 and then go on eating their dinners.\u201d The same could be said with our government\u2019s terrible excesses of its prosecution of the \u201cwar on terror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enter the film \u201cRendition,\u201d released by New Line Cinema October 19th. \u201cRendition\u201d is the story of an Egyptian-born Muslim, Anwar El Ibrahimi (played by Omar Metwalli) who is detained by the CIA after a suicide bombing somewhere in North Africa (unintentionally) claims the life of the local CIA station chief. El Ibrahimi, a permanent U.S. resident married to an American woman (played by Reese Witherspoon) and living the American Dream in suburban Chicago, is linked to phone calls to a known terrorist overseas believed to be behind the terrorist attack (which, incidentally targeted a local chief of police, not Americans). El Ibrahimi could not explain the phone calls, and thus the CIA counter-terrorism chief (played by Meryl Streep) tells the interrogator to \u201cput him on the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

El Ibrahimi is then sent to said North African country where he is tortured brutally by his Arab interrogators, because, as Streep says in the film, \u201cThe United States does not torture.\u201d The acting station chief, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is sent to observe the interrogation, but eventually cannot stomach what is being done, and he orders him released and flown back to the United States. The story is actually more complex than that, but then again, so is the story of terrorism, religious extremism, and the tension between national security and civil liberties, which the film captures quite well.<\/p>\n

Of course, no film about the Middle East is complete without young men shouting \u201cAllahu-akbar,\u201d but radical Islam is almost an afterthought in the film. It would have been a little easier to watch if this was portrayed as a completely fictional scenario, but \u201cextraordinary rendition\u201d is an actual practice of our government (can you say \u201cMaher Arar<\/a>\u201c?). That this could happen to anyone makes the film all the more disturbing.<\/p>\n

\u201cRendition\u201d happens to be one of the best researched Hollywood films about the Middle East in recent memory. True, there is a risk of audiences coming away from the film thinking that Arabs are nothing but brutal torturers, with a side commentary of female oppression in Arab society seemingly forced into the film. But there is nothing this film depicts that is not actually occurring in the Middle East today, which is truly sad.<\/p>\n

Although it is heartening to see such a \u201cpro-Muslim\u201d film to come out of Hollywood, this movie doesn\u2019t appear to be made with Muslims in mind. Rather, this movie is an indictment against our government\u2019s apparent sanction of torture and the practice of \u201cextraordinary rendition,\u201d the victims of which are almost always Muslims. The film can help audiences understand what it feels like to be detained without charge and access to counsel, as well as giving them a firsthand look at the brutality of torture. It is much more powerful than any newspaper article about the practice could ever be, and the release of the film could not be more timely.<\/p>\n

Which is precisely the point. Hollywood has an enormous impact on the American public psyche and consciousness, and the film industry can play a very constructive role in helping to educate society about what is happening in the world around it. Although no one wants someone else\u2019s version of morality forced upon them \u2013 Hollywood\u2019s sexual morality, for example \u2013 there are things that are universally accepted as wrong: genocide, torture, slavery, and the like. A well-made feature film can go a long way to help make these concepts become \u201cflesh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite some of the negative reviews \u201cRendition\u201d has received, it remains an important film. Just as \u201cHotel Rwanda\u201d helped show audiences the horror of what happened in that country (and the world\u2019s indifference), \u201cRendition\u201d helps us understand the insult to American values that \u201cextraordinary rendition\u201d truly is. The film also raises a number of questions, which any good film should do. Is the suicide bomber the only terrorist? What motivates someone to become a terrorist? Does torture work?<\/p>\n

\u201cRendition\u201d reminds us that Benjamin Franklin\u2019s famous statement still remains relevant today: \u201cThose who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago physician and writer. He is the co-author of \u201cThe Beliefnet Guide to Islam<\/a>,\u201d published by Doubleday in 2006. His blog is at godfaithpen.com. <\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"