A couple of films come to mind while watching “The Mauritanian.”
The first is the endlessly rewatchable 1993 legal drama “A Few Good Men,” which centered around a fictional event at the United States’ Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, aka Gitmo, in Cuba.
The other is the compelling based-on-real-events 2019 political drama “The Report,” which took on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques — considered by many to be a euphemism for torture — following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
While not as strong as either of those works, the Kevin Macdonald-directed “Mauritanian” — about the real case of a man from the West African country of Mauritania who was detained for years at the mysterious, highly controversial prison at Gitmo and subjected to all kinds of unpleasantness by interrogators — nonetheless is worth your time.
For starters, it boasts the excellent, Golden Globe-nominated performance by Tahar Rahim as the titular character. (Co-star Jodie Foster earned a nod for best supporting actress, as well.)
More importantly, it shines another light on some of what this country was doing in the name of the war on terror in those years when government officials were, understandably, desperate to prevent “another 9/11.”
Unfortunately, though, “The Mauritanian” — in select theaters now and available via on-demand platforms in March — lacks the dramatic spark of the best legal and political dramas.
Based on the best-selling memoir “Guantanamo Diary,” by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the film introduces us to Rahim’s Mohamedou in November 2001. He is pulled from a large festive gathering and taken into custody by Mauritanian authorities at the behest of U.S. officials, who suspect him of being a recruiter for terrorist organization al-Qaeda and of having helped plan 9/11.
After stints in detention facilities in Jordan and Afghanistan, he is taken to Gitmo, where he languishes for years without a charge. He is generally cooperative with his interrogators but doesn’t tell them what they want to hear. (To start to get a sense of how long he spends at the far-away prison, we learn early on that he speaks English rather fluently in the present day but is entirely dependent on a translator when he arrives.)
Foster’s Nancy Hollander, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based defense attorney, takes an interest in Mohamedou’s case because she believes those in power — most notably President George W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld — are trampling on the rights of such detainees.
“Nancy,” says another lawyer at the firm, “we’d all love a pop at this administration, but there’s more to consider. People want to see these guys burn.”
She reminds him and others that they’ve agreed they can “pick our own pro bono fights,” and she gets her way. She recruits a less-senior lawyer, Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley of “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars”), for the work.
They soon meet Mohamedou at Gitmo and work to earn his trust — and he, if to a lesser extend, theirs. (Nancy is crusading in the name of habeas corpus abuses and a lot less concerned than Teri is about his actual innocence.)
On the other side of the legal fight is a Marine Corps lawyer, Lt. Col. Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch). While Stuart would be happy to “put a needle” in every person actually involved with the 9/11 attacks, he is a man of deep faith and is greatly troubled as he begins to suspect Mohamedou isn’t one of them. This isn’t an easy suspicion to have when you’re tasked with his prosecution, as he’s reminded of by a friend, Neil Buckland (Zachary Levi of “Shazam!”), a federal agent who clearly knows more about the case than he initially reveals.
Working from a screenplay by M.B. Traven, Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland,” “State of Play”) spends a lot of time in flashback sequences showing Mohamedou being interrogated, gently at first and anything but later.
As powerful as some of these scenes are, the overuse of them hurts the film’s momentum. Plus, the visual cues MacDonald employs to set them apart from the linear present-day story feel largely unnecessary and a little distracting.
And as excellent as Rahim (“The Looming Tower,” “A Prophet/Un Prophète”) is, you’re left wanting more scenes featuring the highly talented Foster (“The Silence of the Lambs,” “Contact”) and Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game,” “Doctor Strange”). (The English actor displays a pretty believable Southern accent, by the way.)
“The Mauritanian” greatly echoes “The Report” as Nancy and Teri — and, to a lesser extent, Stuart — are stonewalled in attempts to obtain documents and later inundated with them, although the other film made better dramatic hay from this dry subject.
Given that this story doesn’t involve dramatic courtroom scenes, you’re left wanting something more in the way of legal fireworks, but there isn’t much to be found here.
“The Mauritanian” has other worthwhile traits, though, and be sure to hang with it into its closing credits, when you’ll spend a couple of minutes with the real Slahi.
Given the dramatized version of his ordeal you’ve just seen, they are spirit-lifting moments, to be sure.
“The Mauritanian” is R for violence including a sexual assault, and language. Runtime: 2 hours, 9 minutes.
