The Mauritanian Movie Review: Tough but true

A still from The Mauritanian

The Mauritanian
A; Legal drama
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch
Rating: '''

Kevin Macdonald's version of Mohamedou Ould Salahi's story divined from detailed imprisonment and torture notings' in the latter's book called Guantanamo Diary, is a judicious representation of facts powered by a stellar cast.

The narrative harbouring around post 9/11 hysteria opens in November 2001 with the arrest of Salahi (Tahar Rahim) and then a few years later, 2005, when Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) agrees to make the government accountable for his arrest and illegal incarceration. Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, an American stronghold, is the place where America sends its secret prisoners, incarcerated without trial - ones who they hope will never see the light of day.

Picked up from his home country, Salahi, accused of being one of the recruiters, spent 14 years in prison simply because one of the hijackers spent a night in his home. Hollander makes a simple habeas corpus plea, wherein the government would have to charge Salahi or let him go. While on the other side, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Cumberbatch) who lost a friend in 9/11, defends the government's case but eventually discovers that everything is not so cut and dry.

The script by MB Traven, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani takes a nonlinear route to make things dramatic and interesting. Macdonald also employs shifts in aspect ratios to make the interrogation sequences look more brutal. But that attempt to shock doesn't quite payoff. The intensity slackens and the characters loose primacy. Even Salahi (backed by Rahim's emphatic performance) gets shunted out of focus. Foster and Cumberbatch bring dignity to the good fight but the film would have fared much better if we got to know more of Salahi. This is not an easy film to watch but if you keep an open mind you are likely to be rewarded.