SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 7.30.2026
The blogger just watched the 2007 film Rendition twice. While the film is definitely a Hollywoodization of a shameful period in American history it definitely was a story which needed telling. Upon it’s release the film was generally panned by critics and movie goers alike. It could be the reason for this critical negativity was the fact the story left many movie goers feeling uncomfortable, squeamish to be viewing what American policy is capable of doing.
Extraordinary rendition – Wikipedia
Extraordinary rendition is a euphemistically named policy of state-sponsored abduction in a foreign jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The best-known use of extraordinary rendition is in a United States-led program during the war on terror,[1] which circumvented the source country’s laws on interrogation, detention, extradition and/or torture. Extraordinary rendition is a type of extraterritorial abduction, but not all extraterritorial abductions include transfer to a third country.
Extraordinary rendition began under the administration of President Bill Clinton and continued under the administration of President George W. Bush, which abducted hundreds of “illegal combatants” for U.S. detention and transported them to U.S.-controlled sites as part of an extensive interrogation program that included torture.[2] Extraordinary rendition continued under the Obama administration, with targets being interrogated and subsequently taken to the U.S. for trial.[3] A 2018 report by the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament found the United Kingdom, specifically MI5 and MI6, to be complicit in many of the renditions carried out by the U.S., by helping to fund them, by supplying intelligence, and by knowingly allowing the abductions to happen.[4]
Rendition is a 2007 American political thriller film directed by Gavin Hood, and starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, and Omar Metwally. The film centers on the controversial CIA practice of extraordinary rendition and is based on the true story of Khalid El-Masri, who was mistaken for Khalid al-Masri.
The film was produced by Level 1 Entertainment and Anonymous Content and distributed by New Line Cinema, and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2007, before being released theatrically in North America on October 19, 2007. The film received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed at the box office
Lee's Perspective 