The Mauritanian

Maybe the experience is different if you're American and/or you have no prior knowledge of what was going on in Gitmo (we been knew), but this movie -- while not too bad -- was not as good as it could have been. The script takes middle-of-the-road approach and never really goes for the jugular. Sure, we can call the onscreen depictions of torture "brave" but it's not like it is the first movie to do so. The tone was confusing, there was a lot of jokes for a story that's about inhumane torture. I don't know what function the dream scenes were supposed to perform in the movie, some of them were disorienting, which I suppose is intentional to demonstrate Mo's mental state, but I wonder if they were necessary at all. The acting was great though, I have no misgivings about the acting. I've always liked Tahar Rahim, but the poor guy is really typecast in America, in Europe they trust him with roles that have nothing to do with his background, because he's just that good.

Fantastic movie that demonstrates just how cruel and awful Gitmo is. It is a damn embarrassment that Bush, Obama, and Trump have used that facility to torture people in horrific and inhumane ways, with none of them going to shut it down. I sincerely hope Biden will do the right thing, but I won't hold my breath. The end credits roll detailing the aftermath of Mohamedou's struggle was just heartbreaking. This was great acting all around, and I would've never recognized Doctor Strange.