Based on Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s best-selling memoir Guantanamo Diary, this grim, staggeringly relevant saga chronicles the cruelty of one man’s capture, the inhumanity of his incarceration and brutality of his interrogation—without ever being officially charged with any crime. Because German-educated electrical engineer Mohamedou Slahi (Tahar Rahim), a Mauritanian citizen, is suspected of recruiting al-Qaeda hijackers in the 9/11 mission, Lt. Colonel Stuart Crouch (Benedict Cumberbatch) is eager to prosecute his best friend’s ‘killer.’ When Slahi’s pleas of innocence reach Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster), an ACLU lawyer in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she tackles his ‘pro bono’ case with junior associate Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley), eventually enabling him to become the first detainee to sue the government, President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Both Crouch and Hollander are determined to proceed with a fair trial but they’re systematically stonewalled by steely US secrecy throughout their preparatory investigative process.
Hollander observes: “They built this place (Gitmo) out of the reach of the court for a reason.” Adapted by Michael Bronner—a.k.a. M.B. Traven—Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani, it’s directed by Kevin Macdonald as a legal procedural, peppered with horrific flashbacks of the mental and physical torture that ‘the Mauritanian’ endured for more than 70 days in American custody. French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim delivers an astonishing, raw-nerved performance as a man pushed to the edge—and beyond. Mohamedou Ould Slahi was freed in October, 2016, after 14 years. Another 40 men are still being held without trial in Guantanamo. Of the 779 prisoners incarcerated, only eight have been convicted; the cases against three were overturned on appeal. Recommended.