Though The Mauritanian has all the usual bits and bobs of the post-9/11 American military propaganda film, looks can certainly be deceiving in the case of Kevin Macdonald’s riveting legal thriller.
One of the big draws of this film would be its all-star cast: Jodie Foster (who recently won a Golden Globe for her performance in this film), Benedict Cumberbatch (doing a startlingly good Southern accent) and Shailene Woodley. However, it’s French-Algerian actor Tahar Rahim that steals the show as Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a suspected 9/11 conspirator whom Foster and Woodley’s characters seek to defend. This is what’s fascinating about watching The Mauritanian – it seems so genuinely formulaic, speaking all the parlance of the courtroom dramas we know and love, having all the familiar plot twists and beats: but then, ever so subtly, Macdonald pulls the rug out from under you and you don’t even notice until it’s being waved in front of your face.
The Mauritanian tells the story of Ould Slahi, who, you guessed it, is from Mauritania, and is arrested in connection with the 9/11 attacks and held in Guantanamo Bay. Nancy Hollander (Foster) decides to represent him to ensure he gets a fair trial – she’s a rebel! She loves her democracy! She’s “crazy” to take a case like this, as her bosses tell her, but that’s not enough to stop Nancy. No, Nancy is so incensed by her love of the American legal system and s***-stirring, that she decides to go ahead with it – very Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men (Rob Reiner, 1992). Ding ding ding, who’s that entering the ring? Oh yes, it’s Benedict Cumberbatch as Stuart Couch, a no-nonsense red-blooded Marine from down South whose tragic backstory (his friend dying in the 9/11 attacks) propels him to take a case on behalf of the State to put Ould Slahi to death. It’s a classic rink-a-dink; she’s the irreverent strong female character, he’s the masculine epitome of patriotism. All this unfurls within the first twenty minutes, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was like every other courtroom drama that has ever been made. And that, as Macdonald expertly shows us, is exactly where you’d be wrong. Though Foster and Cumberbatch are positioned as being the leading forces in this legal ménage à trois, Macdonald’s expert pacing and controlled performances all ultimately support Rahim in a magnificent turn as Ould Slahi: part prisoner, part poet, part exile.
Of course, they don’t entirely abscond with the generic conventions that make all great legal thrillers, well, great. But Macdonald’s film shows that genre works best when these conventions are celebrated and not just mindlessly copied. The moral dilemmas and ethical concerns aren’t just thrown up as a test of the litigators’ dedication to their country and beliefs. This allows every character – even minor ones – the ability to pause and consider, which creates a deeply multi-faceted core embedded into the foundations of the film, which make for a rock-solid core that’s hard to dismiss as being another genre cash-grab. And then we have the crown jewel of any legal flick worth their weight – the impassioned plea in the court of law. This has become such a staple that it’s hard to see it as anything else. But the power-dynamic between Rahim and Macdonald creates not only something that is genuinely enjoyable to watch, but also a deeply and incredibly moving piece of cinema: stripping away the glitz and spit-fire debate that so often takes precedent in these films to remind us of the deeply human centres of these films.
Though The Mauritanian might feel like your average legal film, Macdonald and his cast mercilessly take the filibuster from the genre, resulting in a surprisingly fresh story of human resilience and connection. Sure, it goes maybe a little too easy on the whole ‘American-State-Commiting-War-Crimes’ tack, but you take what you can get. And though there definitely has to be more of a light shined on the inherent brokenness of the American legal system that facilitates countless tales like Ould Slahi’s, The Mauritanian very quickly shows us that the devil is in the details – and in this case, Slahi speaks louder than the system that oppresses him.
The Mauritanian is released on Amazon Prime Video on April 1.
