The Mauritanian Review (New Movie)

The Mauritanian is a 2021 dramatic thriller and based on the best-selling memoir Guantanamo Diary. The plot concerns Mohamedou Ould Slahi and the court case fighting for his freedom after being detained by the US Government without charge for years. I am going to do my best to keep individual political opinions out of this review. My goal is to focus on the film only. The Mauritanian is available only in theaters starting February 12th. Let’s get to the review.

    So I knew basically nothing about this film going into it. I had seen a poster and a one-sentence synopsis. I’m pleasantly surprised to say this is a brilliant film. Tahar Rahim gives a phenomenal performance. He nails every single emotional moment and makes your heart break regularly. None of the other elements in this movie would matter if it didn’t have such a powerful performance at its crucial center. Jodie Foster is no slack either though, while she’s not doing anything she hasn’t done before it’s still an outstanding performance. She has great chemistry with the entire cast. It’s nice to see Shailene Woodley again in a role actually worthy of her acting talents. She and Foster are basically always on screen together, and they have phenomenal chemistry. Shailene has a warmth to her performance, which is much needed in a film this dark. Benedict Cumberbatch gives a great performance, though his accent took a little getting used to. He seemed fairly one-dimensional at first but as his character gets stronger so does the performance. I adored Zachary Levi in a minor supporting role. The performance was something I have never seen him do before. 

    Kevin Macdonald’s directing is a strange mix most of the time it’s perfectly fine but there was one sequence toward the end where I got extremely impressed by him pulling off a unique style choice. The script by Michael Bronner, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani is fantastic and elevated even higher by the performances. This movie made me physically angry and sick to my stomach at several points. That I was watching a true story was shocking, but in a way that works. Even when I got disturbed, they got me so enthralled that I couldn’t look away. The cinematography like the directing is fairly standard except for some flashback sequences that got uniquely shot. In terms of pacing, it surprised me how fast the movie went. Despite the 129 minute runtime of pure hard-hitting drama, it flew by.

    So overall, while I highly recommend The Mauritanian, it comes with a warning. I’m aware these are hard times for everyone, so if you’re not in a place to handle something so dark and depressing it's best to save it for a later date. So, guys, that’s it for this review. Thanks for checking out Silver Screen Spectacle, and check back here Friday morning for my thoughts on the latest episode of WandaVision. Till next time, everyone. 

8.5/10