Extraordinary Rendition | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jim Threapleton |
Written by | Jim Threapleton |
Produced by | Andy Noble |
Starring | Omar Berdouni Andy Serkis |
Music by | James Edward Barker |
Release date |
|
Running time | 77 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Extraordinary Rendition is a 2007 drama film directed by Jim Threapleton and starring Omar Berdouni and Andy Serkis. [1] The film was premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland on 8 August 2007, and at the Edinburgh Film Festival on 21 August 2007, but never received a full commercial release. It was released on DVD in early 2008, and screened by the BBC on 30 April 2008.
A man is snatched from the streets of his home city (London) and transported to an unknown destination. Held in a tiny cell with no access to legal representation, he is cut off from the outside world. Advanced interrogation techniques are used to break him down. His life is deconstructed with such manipulation that even he begins to question his innocence. He is transported again, in a small jet marked only 'N379P', to the searing heat of an unspecified locale where interrogation is quickly replaced by sophisticated torture. No reason is offered for his detention and no timetable is set for his release. No governments are mentioned, no radical factions named, no fingers pointed. There is nothing for him to hang onto. The man has fallen out of the world, and only questions remain. Returned without explanation to the UK many months later, he is left to pick up the pieces of a shattered life in a world he no longer recognizes.
The film received the mixed reviews, Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter called it a '' a powerful debut film''. [2]
James Edward Threapleton is an English film director. Threapleton has worked as an assistant director on many films, including Hideous Kinky.
Andrew Clement Serkis is an English actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his motion-capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy (2011–2017), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Baloo in his self-directed film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy filmsThe Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), also portraying Kino Loy in the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022).
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored kidnapping in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had the purpose of circumventing the source country's laws on interrogation, detention, extradition and/or torture. Extraordinary rendition is a type of extraterritorial abduction, but not all extraterritorial abductions include transfer to a third country.
Mamdouh Habib is an Egyptian and Australian citizen with dual nationality, best known for having been held for more than three years by the United States as an enemy combatant, by both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and military authorities. He was sent by extraordinary rendition from Pakistan to Egypt after his arrest. He was held the longest at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp as an enemy combatant. Finally released without charges in January 2005, Habib struggled to have his account of his experiences believed, as he alleged he had been tortured by the CIA, Egyptians, and US military, at times with Australian intelligence officers present. For some time, each of the governments denied his allegations, but they have gradually been confirmed.
Binyam Ahmed Mohamed, also referred to as Benjamin Mohammed, Benyam Mohammed or Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, is an Ethiopian national and United Kingdom resident, who was detained as a suspected enemy combatant by the US Government in Guantanamo Bay prison between 2004 and 2009 without charges. He was arrested in Pakistan and transported first to Morocco under the US's extraordinary rendition program, where he claimed to have been interrogated under torture.
Nitin Sawhney is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and spirituality. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, is chair of the PRS Foundation, sits on the board of trustees of theatre company Complicité, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions. In 2021 he was an ambassador for the Royal Albert Hall.
Martin Mubanga is a joint citizen of both the United Kingdom and Zambia. He was held, without charge, and interrogated at the American prison at Guantanamo Bay for 33 months.
Jamil Abdul Latif el-Banna, born 28 May 1962, is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, with refugee status in the United Kingdom, who had been living in north-west London. He was abducted in November 2002 by the CIA from the Gambia while on a business trip, and suffered extraordinary rendition to Bagram, Afghanistan, where he was held and interrogated by the CIA until March 2003. He was transferred to military custody at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in March 2003, and held there until 19 December 2007.
The Prestige is a 2006 psychological thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan and based on the 1995 novel by Christopher Priest. It stars Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier and Christian Bale as Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in Victorian London who feud over a perfect teleportation trick.
Rendition is a 2007 American political thriller film directed by Gavin Hood, and starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin and Omar Metwally. It centers on the controversial CIA practice of extraordinary rendition and is based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri, who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri.
Taxi to the Dark Side is a 2007 American documentary film directed by Alex Gibney, and produced by Gibney, Eva Orner, and Susannah Shipman. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It focuses on the December 2002 killing of an Afghan taxi driver named Dilawar, who was beaten to death by American soldiers while being held in extrajudicial detention and interrogated at a black site at Bagram air base.
A Most Wanted Man is a thriller/espionage novel by British writer John le Carré, published in September 2008 by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom and in October 2008 by Scribner in the United States.
James Edward Barker is a British composer, music producer and film producer. Many of his music works include an ethereal mixture of live sonic experimentation with grandiose classical motifs and alternative percussion.
Four Lions is a 2010 British political satire black comedy film directed by Chris Morris and written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. The film, a jihad satire following a group of homegrown terrorist jihadis from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, stars Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Arsher Ali and Adeel Akhtar.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Wyatt and written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. The film is a reboot of the Planet of the Apes film series and its seventh installment overall. It stars Andy Serkis as Caesar, alongside James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, and David Oyelowo. In the film, Caesar, a chimpanzee genetically enhanced and raised by William Rodman (Franco), goes from living in captivity to eventually leading an ape uprising against humanity.
Brighton Rock is a 2010 British crime film written and directed by Rowan Joffé and loosely based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel of the same name. The film stars Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Serkis, John Hurt, Sean Harris and Helen Mirren.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a 2018 adventure drama film directed by Andy Serkis with a screenplay by Callie Kloves, based on stories collected in All the Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys, and Freida Pinto, along with voice and motion-capture performances from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, and Serkis. In the film, an orphaned human boy who was raised by wolves, sets out on a journey to find a human village while evading Shere Khan.
Breathe is a 2017 biographical drama film directed by Andy Serkis in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by William Nicholson. The film stars Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander, Ed Speleers and Dean-Charles Chapman; it tells the story of Robin Cavendish, who became paralysed from the neck down by polio at the age of 28.
Tim Despic is a Canadian-born London-based British composer. His style of composition has been described as ‘moody and evocative’.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a 2021 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Venom, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the second film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe and the sequel to Venom (2018). The film was directed by Andy Serkis from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, based on a story she wrote with Tom Hardy, who stars as Eddie Brock and Venom alongside Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, and Woody Harrelson. In the film, Eddie and the alien symbiote Venom must face serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson) after he becomes the host of an offshoot of Venom named Carnage.