We’re coming up on the 20th anniversary of 9/11, which also means we have had more and more movies come out about America’s involvement during the war, especially its policy on torture and holding suspected terrorists without trial. The Mauritanian is the latest movie dealing with this subject. It deals with the story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi who was held for 14 years without trial at Guantanamo Bay for being a suspected terrorist one of the masterminds of 9/11. His book Guantanamo Diary is what the movie is based on. what is interesting about his story is he is one of the few suspects that the American government has admitted to torturing and of course was never able to provide any evidence that he had anything to do with 9/11. Even when after seven years he won his court case and ordered to be released, the Obama administration appealed the decision and they held him for another seven years. This film not only centers on his story, but the dark side of America’s reaction to 9/11.  I will first say that this is a very good movie, marked by great performances, but it is not an easy movie to watch. The torture scenes well sting your sensibilities as they linger more than they should. And I suspect that is the intent of the director.

At first, I thought this was going to be a courtroom drama much like A Few Good Men, but it isn’t so much that as it is the investigation into what happened. You never get to see the two lead actors square off against each other in a courtroom because it didn’t actually happen. This story is told from the perspective of Mohamedou and all that he went through. The first thing you notice about this film is the performances, especially when you have two heavyweights like Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Colonel Stuart couch and Jodie Foster ,who played the human rights attorney Nancy Hollander, but the film isn’t good because you had these two great actors in it. They certainly help, but the best performance goes to Tahar Rahim, who played Mohammed with perfection. He is what makes this movie come alive as you truly fear for his safety, you sympathize with his plight, and he truly puts a human face to the real life prisoner of war that America tortured and kept in prison without any evidence while ignoring his right to a trial. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Benedict Cumberbatch and Jodie Foster. Even Shailene Woodley was good, but I truly believe that it is the performance of Tahar Rahim that carries the film. I’ve never been one to promote the Oscars or even make Oscar predictions, but if there’s one person I believe should get the award for best actor,  it is him. I enjoyed the investigation aspect of this film, especially when the government did everything it could to make sure that attorney Nancy Hollander and her team didn’t have all the information. The American government was going to make sure they had a guilty verdict at least that was their intention. But this film isn’t about the investigation so much as it is bringing the audience inside everything that the main character had to go through. And Tahar Rahim’s performance puts us into that place so that we feel his joy and especially his pain. Both Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch do great jobs with their performances and I truly feel that this film is a lesson in great acting. The best parts of the film are when it centers on the main character that is what drives the story.

Now the movie isn’t perfect. I understand why the torture scenes had to linger so that we truly felt the pain of what the main character goes through, but it is also a little too much. I likened them to rape scenes that go a little too far because they are meant to make the audience feel disgusted, but sometimes not seeing everything and just hearing it is even more scary. Sometimes, just hearing something like that can bring the same amount of intensity, it was truly unsettling to see these scenes and I understand why was necessary to make the audience feel disgusting about the happen to this man,  but I do criticize that it went a little too far at times. While the pacing is good in the film, I do feel like it gets a little choppy at points going back and forth between centering on the voice of the main character and the investigation between the attorneys. Probably the worst part and this is not an indictment on Benedict Cumberbatch’s acting because he’s a great actor, unfortunately, he has a terrible southern accent and it will naws at you by the end of the film. But it can’t be overlooked because of his performance. After all, he is Benedict Cumberbatch and have we ever really seen him do a bad movie?

It’s true that a documentary would have sufficed in telling this particular story. And might have even told the story better, especially if you just had the videos of the real character in his own words. I like how they had those videos during the credits. The Mauritanian’s dramatization of a horrible event in American history is necessary because you need actors who can touch our very soul with their performance and put us, the audience, in what happened to the character beyond the dramatization. Great performances make us feel what that character felt.  There’s a sympathy brought about because of the performances, sometimes more than what a documentary can do that just gives us the facts. And I feel like that’s why we needed to see this particular film, we needed the performances of Benedict Cumberbatch and Jodie Foster and especially, Tahar Rahim, to tug at our sympathies for the tragedy that it really happened. So I won’t tell you to go into this movie as just some movie you can watch in the background, it is an emotional movie and one that will give you negative feelings towards the American government, no matter whether Republicans Or Democrats are in charge. But I do believe that anybody who watches this movie will be inspired and will be moved in ways that they may not expect. It is a powerful movie about people trying to do the right thing and someone who never gave up hope or lost his humanity even when the American government tried to take it away. It’s a movie that definitely needs to be seen for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as a reminder of the darkness that lies within one of the greatest countries in the world. But if nothing else, watch it for the fantastic performances.