THE MAURITANIAN
Cert 15 ★★★ On Amazon Prime now
A towering performance from Tahar Rahim comes up against a stodgy script in this fact-based political drama.
Working off Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s harrowing memoir Guantanamo Diary, written as he was imprisoned in the notorious jail, Oscar-winning documentarian Kevin Macdonald (One Day In September) relates key events in a 14-year ordeal that saw him held without charge on suspicion of masterminding the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The US government alleged that he recruited for Al Qaeda, having been arrested after taking a call from Osama bin Laden’s phone, although Slahi denied any links to extremism. The film opens in
November 2001 with the arrest of Slahi (Rahim) then jumps to 2005, as human rights lawyer Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) agrees to force the government to find something to charge him with.
Then Macdonald keeps skittering between a prison flick – as Slahi is subjected to torture and mock executions – and a legal drama as Hollander and increasingly conflicted army lawyer Lt Colonel Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch) prepare for his trial.
Rahim is excellent as the charismatic and dignified Slahi but the film’s screenwriters are so keen to celebrate the enduring power of the human spirit that they fail to properly investigate his background.
Is Slahi really a poster boy for Western democracy? The Mauritanian doesn’t ask the difficult questions.