| Hollywood never shies away from getting political, or, more specifically, getting opinionated regarding war. The new film “Rendition,” starring Meryl Streep, Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, makes an interesting war commentary. Gyllenhaal said yesterday that the film shows that torture of terrorism suspects is wrong. This is all happening, of course, in the midst of our own war and the allegations of torture at the hand of U.S. soldiers that have been publicized in the past few years.
But as Hollywood’s typical left-wing flaps rather typically in the breeze, the feathers on its other wing might be showing, perhaps just a bit. Gyllenhaal also concedes that “Rendition,” named for the practice of removing a war prisoner or terrorism suspect to another venue where deeper physical pressure may be applied, shows that torture can have its use in the business of war.
“I also think it presents the political side of it, too,” he’s quoted as saying by the Associated Press, “which is saying that you could be torturing one innocent man, but at the same time 5,000 people are alive ... because of information that the government elicited through (extraordinary) rendition."
Director Gavin Hood apparently wants to spark debate with his film. I imagine he will.
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