Directed by: Kevin MacDonald
Starring: Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Levi
The Mauritanian tells the true story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who languished in Guantanamo Bay for fourteen years after being arrested for alleged ties to the 9/11 Al-Qaeda plot. Salahi was never charged with a crime, but was imprisoned, tortured, and tormented by U.S. government officials and prison guards. The evidence against him was thin at best. After enduring months of physical and psychological torture, Salahi signed a confession but after that ordeal he would have signed a paper confessing he was Bin Laden's father and responsible for Pearl Harbor.
After being arrested in November 2001 in his home country of Mauritania, The Mauritanian shifts to 2005 when his case is brought to the attention of crusading attorney Nancy Hollander (Foster). The Supreme Court recently reinstituted habeas corpus for Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Hollander and her associate Teri Duncan (Woodley) take the case and visit Salahi, who maintains his innocence but has grown cynical for good reason. Hollander's opponent is Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Cumberbatch), who is seeking the death penalty in a case even he has doubts about.
Does The Mauritanian end with a trial showdown? No, but instead the principals learn through court and prison documents the extent of Salahi's suffering. Salahi initially won his case, but shamefully the Obama administration appealed the outcome and Salahi wouldn't be freed until 2015. One of President Obama's promises was to close Guantanamo Bay prison, but as of this writing it is still open for business. Why would Obama's administration appeal a case of a Guantanamo prisoner when he wanted the prison closed anyway for reasons exactly like these?
On to the movie itself, which never rises to the level of outrage the story requires. Rahim gives us a humanizing portrait of Salahi, with whom anyone can sympathize, but none of the legal wrangling and aghast expressions when reading the documents leads to a substantial payoff. Salahi published a book shortly after his release and we see footage of a happily married father who smiles a great deal these days. But the whole movie is rather dry in its depiction of Salahi and his legal ordeal. The depth of Foster and Woodley's scenes with Rahim consist of prison visits. These begin to feel repetitive.
After an attack of moral indignation, Woodley disappears from the movie only to be awkwardly reinserted without a word of explanation. Still, The Mauritanian has its periods where it is compelling, but as a whole it is lacking.
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