The Global Sociology Blog

Two movies this week, one decent and the other REALLY bad. First, the decent one, Rendition, by Gavin Hood (the director of Tsotsi… great film).

Rendition tells the story of Isabella El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon) who searches for her Egyptian-born husband after he disappeared from his flight from South Africa (he’s a well-known engineer). The film is divided between three storylines: Isabella’s search for answers in the corridors of power, knocking on senators’ doors; Douglas Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal), the CIA bureaucrat, all of a sudden put in charge of a bombing investigation in Egypt, who has to face his conscience in the face of torture; and the story of Fatima, the daughter of the chief of police in charge of the bombing investigation on the Egyptian side. Fatima is running away from an arranged marriage. The most interesting part of the film is the intersection (and surprising timing) of these storylines. There is an element of surprise you don’t expect but I won’t spoil it for you.

Oh, and there is Meryl Streep, as always, excellent at playing evil, cold-hearted, high-powered women.

The film, of course, would not please the Bush administration. It highlights all the flows of the War on Terror, especially the practice of rendition and the use of torture. All the excuses we have heard before are mentioned and proved wanting. This film is in line with Road to Guantanamo Bay, or Taxi to the Darkside. It will justify right-wingers’ beliefs that Hollywood wants us to lose the war on terror.

The way I see it, all this films on the subjects related to the war on terror, fulfill the function that the media is not fulfilling (except for Sy Hersch). They are similar to the Italian and Spanish political cinema of the 1970s where brilliant directors went after the fascistic tendencies of their respective governments (think Ettore Scola, Carlos Saura or Costa-Gavras on the Greek generals). So, no, Rendition is not a great film but a necessary one.

Ok, let me say this right off the bat: I despise Paul Haggis for Walker, Texas Ranger, for Crash, and now for In the Valley of Elah, which I saw this week. In my defense, I picked it from my on-demand service because I saw Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon in the cast, I didn’t know it was a Paul Haggis film. It was awful: what a monumental pretentious, patronizing, sexist piece of !@#$!

What’s the movie about? TLJ and Susan Sarandon are the parents of a soldier who just came back from Iraq and has gone AWOL. So, TLJ goes to the military base to try to find him. Not long after he arrives, his son’s body is found, all chopped up and he starts investigating what happened with the help from a woman detective played by Charlize Theron who reprises her role from North Country, or at least, it looks that way. Let me count the similarities: in both films, she plays down her physical attractiveness. In both movies, she is a single mother, with a young son. In both movies, she’s left lousy relationships. In both movies, she has to face the sexist treatment related to the fact that she’s a woman in masculine environment. North Country was WAY better though.

That film made me want to throw up mostly because of the TLJ character. The man is always right, lectures other people on their own incompetence, and blurts out racist expletives when upset (but he apologizes afterwards, so, I guess it’s ok). Poor Susan Sarandon. I don’t know what the hell she was thinking accepting the part of the long-suffering military wife and mother, always pushed to the side cuz it’s obvious she can’t handle the tough reality of life. Gimme a break.

And of course, he mentors (i.e. patronizes) poor little Charlize Theron and guides her through the investigation. She resists it every once in a while, but then, realizing that she needs him, she goes back and submits to his patriarchal status. Only when she submits to his expertise and superiority does he show some basic courtesy.

TLJ also plays silverback to the other detectives and young military guys. Quite frankly, by the time I had realized all that, I wasn’t interested anymore in what happened to the son. And why the fuck did we need to see the great Frances Fisher topeless? It’s completely unnecessary.

Oh, and let’s not forget the religious aspect of all this. You see, one evening, the Theron character invites TLJ to dinner with her and her son at her house. Mother and son get ready to dig in but TLJ solemnly clasps his hands in a silent prayer. The other two follow his lead in submission. Then, when he has to read a story to David (Theron’s son), he instead tells him the story of David and Goliath. Obviously, his heathen mother has not raised him to be a good Christian and poor David missed out on the lesson in male courage. Yuck.

Did I mention it’s supposed to be an anti-war film? Yup. The message of the film is that the war messes you up. Torturing people messes you up. Killing children for no good reason, because standing orders say to not stop your vehicle in traffic, messes you up.

Oh, and nice touch showing the guy from El Salvador at the school who can’t raise the flag right and TLJ has to correct him. You can’t trust these brown people, can you.