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| Taken from Google Images |
Title- The Mauritanian
Creators- Kevin Macdonald, M.B Traven, Rory Haines and Sorhrab Noshirvani
Cast- Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch and Shailene Woodley
Genre- legal drama, based on real events
Length- 2 hours
Platform- Amazon Prime (UK)
Rating- 4/5 stars
Plot
Based on the NY Times best-selling memoir "Guantánamo Diary" by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, this is the true story of Slahi's fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years. Alone and afraid, Slahi finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander and her associate Teri Duncan who battle the U.S. government in a fight for justice that tests their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch, uncovers shocking truths and ultimately proves that the human spirit cannot be locked up. Written by STXfilms.
Taken from IMDb.
Opinions
I had wanted to watch this film after hearing about it through the awards season, for which Jodie Foster won an award for her work in this film. I was very surprised to see it available on Amazon Prime as I wasn't expecting it to be available in the UK. As the summary mentions, this is based on the true events of what happened to Mohamedou. I'm now really interested in reading the book as I'd like to read it from his account. I'd recommend doing some research into this film before you watch it as it's fascinating.
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Tahar Rahim had been on my radar after watching The Serpent, which he stared in as the titular character. While I hadn't enjoyed the series overall, the performances, particularly from Rahim were amazing. He holds this film. As the titular character, you really go on this journey with him. Rahim never makes the performance feel cliched. He brings so much depth to the role. I'm interested in watching some of his other performances as he is a really good actor. This is a harrowing film. It is hard to believe that this actually happened to someone. Yet through Rahim's performance, he brings that lightness that is needed and is based on Mohamedou. It's really one characters perseverance and hopefulness that shines throughout.
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The whole core cast was incredibly strong. These roles were a bit more cliched, despite being based on real people. You don't have quite the same emotional connection to them as you do to Mohamedou. The performances were strong and despite being slightly cliched, they never felt like caricatures. Aside from Benedict Cumberbatch's Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch, there isn't much information online about the real life counterparts as I'd like to know more about these people.
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This film could have easily been a cliche legal drama and it wasn't. It showed Mohamedou as a person. His hopefulness shone throughout. With Rahim's performance in the central role, the lighter moments did feel like. It never felt too heavy. The torture scenes, which have been criticised online, were okay to me. I think they had to be there and they could have easily gone on for much longer than they did. I think they gave us a nice (well nice isn't the right word, but you know what I mean) snapshot into the horrors Mohamedou faced.
I liked how they ended the film, with clips of the real life Mohamedou and how he's doing. Despite the awful things he went through, he seems like this optimistic guy filled with happiness. I keep mentioning the hopefulness of this film and it's such a key theme. It can be easy to leave films based on true events feeling miserable, but this one was optimistic. I think that's exactly what we need right now.
Those are my thoughts and opinions on the Mauritanian. What did you think of the film?
Carenza :)x
