Connect with us
The Mauritanian
Habeas_05-12-19_304.RAF

Film

The Mauritanian is Far From the Best War on Terror Movie

The new movie The Mauritanian, which arrives this week as part of the strange interregnum of 2020 movies released weeks into 2021 but still eligible for 2020 awards, is part of a burgeoning genre of movies that look back at America’s War on Terror period and shine the light on its excesses. 

In that genre, The Mauritanian is a significant step behind 2019’s The Report, which told a similar story but did so with a much better script and tighter direction. Both films exist as something of a rejoinder to Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, a film that wasn’t nearly as skeptical about American anti-terrorism policies. Both films, however, borrow some cinematic cues from Bigelow’s film. 

The Mauritanian tells the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, a onetime resistance fighter in Afghanistan who was captured by the U.S. shortly after the 9/11 attacks, accused of involvement and of being an al-Qaeda recruiter. He was then left to languish in the prison in Guantanamo Bay, without trial, for more than 14 years. 

Salahi also suffered many of the abuses brought during that period, including torture, coerced confessions, and extraordinary rendition. And like The Report, it wasn’t only a Bush Administration thing- Salahi wasn’t freed until 2016, the final year of the Obama Administration. 

The biggest problem with the film is that it’s slow, and it puts the focus in the wrong place. 

The Mauritanian, directed by Kevin Macdonald, structures Salahi’s story as a legal procedural, and in which the story of the actual prisoner (played by Tahar Rahim) is kept largely in the background, with less screen time than the lawyer characters (played by Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch.) Also, we don’t get the full breadth of what happened to Salahi until well into the film. 

Foster plays a liberal defense lawyer, assisted by a younger attorney played by Shailene Woodley. At one point, Foster is warned that prisoners at Guantanamo have been spitting on visitors, which would hardly be the worst thing a prisoner has done to Jodie Foster in a movie. 

Cumberbatch’s Stuart Couch probably has the film’s most compelling arc, as a veteran prosecutor whose close friend was killed in the attacks, and who is under immense pressure to deliver conventions. But he starts to ask questions when he realizes that he’s not being given all the documents. 

The Mauritanian also doesn’t show us much that wasn’t common knowledge already, for those who followed these events. The Report, in a much more dynamic way, demonstrated that the entire “enhanced interrogation techniques” regime was not only violent and evil but was originated as what amounted to a scam by a couple of hucksters that the CIA fell for. There’s no corresponding revelation in the new film. 

The film, which is getting a release in select theaters on February 12, has its virtues, but it seems destined to get lost in the shuffle of this very busy time of year. 

Written By

Stephen Silver is a journalist and film critic based in the Philadelphia area. He is the co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and a Rotten Tomatoes-listed critic since 2008, and his work has appeared in New York Press, Philly Voice, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Tablet, The Times of Israel, and RogerEbert.com. In 2009, he became the first American journalist to interview both a sitting FCC chairman and a sitting host of "Jeopardy" on the same day.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Facebook

Trending

NBA YoungBoy Gifts Yaya Mayweather A Lamborghini Truck For Her Birthday

Celebrity

Dave Shapiro, Sound Talent Group Co-Founder and Music Agent, Dies in San Diego Plane Crash

Celebrity

Wale Debuts Eye-Catching Nike GT Future Colorway At Got Sole

Celebrity

Kash Doll Staunchly Defends Her Man Za’Darius Smith Against Cheating Allegations

Celebrity

Honey Don’t! Review: Margaret Qualley Sizzles In Ethan Coen’s Moody, Unabashedly Queer Noir

Celebrity

New Kwaito Star Captain Faces Heat Over Mampintsha Comparisons

Culture

Logan Paul’s Boxing Journey: A Look at His Fights and Results

Culture

Demi Lovato marries singer-songwriter Jordan ‘Jutes’ Lutes in California wedding

Celebrity

Doechii Rocks the Edge — 100 Stories Above New York — With Short But Spicy Set

Celebrity

Celebrities Mentioned During Sean “Diddy” Combs Trial

Culture

Ghostface Killah Sets Long-Awaited Classic “Supreme Clientele” Sequel Release Date & It’s Closer Than You Think

Celebrity

Kendrick Lamar Beats Drake For Album Of The Year At The BET Awards

Celebrity

Zion Williamson Responds To Lawsuit For Alleged Sexual Assault & Kidnapping

Celebrity

The 10 Scariest Horror Movies Of 2024, Ranked

Film

Olympic Gold Medalist Tom Daley on His New Documentary, Being a ‘Sounding Board’ for Closeted Queer Athletes and Why Tom Holland Should Play Him in a Movie

Celebrity

Joshua Jackson Asks for Emergency Custody Dispute Because of Daughter’s New School

Culture

Connect