"Rendition" | Political thriller refuses to look away from torture debate

As timely as last week's Supreme Court decision regarding torture, "Rendition" deftly dramatizes the arguments for and against.

Meryl Streep, who seems to be channeling the body language of Bush adviser Karen Hughes, plays a CIA executive who argues that the torture of one person may be necessary to save thousands of lives. At the same time, she claims that the United States does not do torture.

A senator's assistant (Peter Sarsgaard), trying to help an ex-lover (Reese Witherspoon) track down her missing Egyptian-American husband, presents the case that what Streep is suggesting is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, a CIA analyst (Jake Gyllenhaal) involved in the "extraordinary rendition" of the husband to a torture-friendly country argues that torture creates too many enemies.

Caught in the middle is the husband (powerfully played by Tony-nominated Dutch-Egyptian actor Omar Metwally), a chemical engineer whose cellphone records appear to indicate that he's connected to North African suicide bombers. Is he a terrorist or a doting dad/husband? Can evidence produced by torture be trusted?

Screenwriter Kelly Sane and director Gavin Hood (who won an Oscar last year for his South African drama "Tsotsi") manage to handle most of this without making the characters sound as if they're standing on a soapbox.

They're the kinds of arguments we hear every day on television talk shows. Occasionally the well-chosen actors get a chance to find some humor in the situation. Streep even tweaks Sarsgaard for sounding too much like a speech writer.

What finally gives "Rendition" its headlong narrative momentum is the sense that we're rarely certain what argument the filmmakers are endorsing. The tension is heightened by a tricky time scheme that makes you want to watch the whole thing over again.

Is this just a big-screen version of "24," or is it another "Syriana"? Scene by scene, it keeps you guessing. While there's not much depth to these characters (is Gyllenhaal missing a crucial turning-point scene?), "Rendition" is the kind of political thriller that works best when it's racing along the surface.

John Hartl: johnhartl@yahoo.com