The Mauritanian
STXKevin Macdonald, probably best known for directing The Last King of Scotland, serves up interesting truth-based legal thriller, The Mauritanian. The Mauritanian is a man named Mohamedou Ould Salahi (played by Tahar Rahim), who is imprisoned and taken to Guantanamo Bay under suspicion of being involved in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, despite any actual charges being made against him.
Salahi’s legal team is made up in the form of Jodie Foster’s Nancy Hollander and Shailene Woodley’s Teri Duncan. On the prosecuting side is Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Couch – Benedict Cumberbatch sports a disappearing accent – a man with a personal investment in taking Salahi down. However, both legal teams find that gaining any un-redacted evidence an extremely difficult task and it’s only when Couch digs deep enough, that the horrible truth is uncovered.
It’s worth mentioning that this is based on Salahi’s memoir, Guantanamo Diary, which reveals his time imprisoned there. A lot of the film takes place through Salahi’s perspective and it’s to his credit, amongst these other big names, that Rahim gives the movie’s best performance. The torture scenes are brutal and horrendous enough that it’s easy to feel sympathy toward anyone being put through them. However, it’s the aftermath that Rahim captures – he’s a broken man but, at the same time, he manages to hold on to the charm that makes Salahi who he is. Foster, as well, is given a decent role as the tough attorney, Hollande – probably the best part she’s gotten to play in nearly twenty years.
The rest of the cast are adequate, but all feel out of place. Cumberbatch doesn’t get to push much of a personality onto Couch, Woodley feels like a mere extension of Foster’s character and Zachary Levi, who is always a welcome presence, is much too soft to play the man who is supposed to be a cruel interrogator.
Macdonald does a good job of highlighting the message. The brutalisation of human rights in the wake of 9/11 is inexcusable, no matter the circumstances and Salahi is a likeable character for the message to be conveyed convincingly. However, there feels like there’s some excess fat to be trimmed off the runtime with the pace dipping in intensity. This should be a modern day All the President’s Men, but feels weighed down and less urgent.
The Mauritanian is certainly a good film but, with the talent involved, it should have been a great one.