LONDON: There were some raised eyebrows when the nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards included no mention of Kevin Macdonald’s legal drama “The Mauritanian” but perhaps fewer than there may have been, given that the COVID-19 pandemic has (as in so many cases) restricted its wider release to streaming services, so audiences outside of America only now have the chance to see Macdonald’s adaption of Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s 2015 memoir “Guantánamo Diary.”
“The Mauritanian” stars Tahar Rahim as Slahi, and chronicles his 14-year captivity in the infamous US military prison, where he was held without charge. When defense attorneys Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) and Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) learn of Slahi’s situation, they find themselves facing down tenacious military prosecutor Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the might (not to mention the ability to drag its heels) of the US government.
‘The Mauritanian’ actor Tahar Rahim: Jodie Foster raises the game. Everything she does is the truth Pallabi Dey Purkayastha
A Prophet (2009), is on a roll with his new courtroom drama
The Mauritanian, also starring Hollywood actress Jodie Foster. Tahar has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA under the Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama and the Best Actor in a Leading Role categories, respectively. In this legal saga, which has been directed by Kevin Macdonald and releases in India on April 9, he plays the role of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a man from Mauritania, who was held at the notorious Guantanamo Bay for 14 years without a trial for allegedly being involved in the deadly 9/11 attacks. In a virtual round table interview, the actor spoke to BT about how the shoot of
Tahar Rahim, who is known for his work in the award-winning French movie
A Prophet (2009), is on a roll with his new courtroom drama
The Mauritanian, also starring Hollywood actress Jodie Foster. Tahar has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA under the Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama and the Best Actor in a Leading Role categories, respectively. In this legal saga, which has been directed by Kevin Macdonald and releases in India on April 9, he plays the role of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a man from Mauritania, who was held at the notorious Guantanamo Bay for 14 years without a trial for allegedly being involved in the deadly 9/11 attacks. In a virtual round table interview, the actor spoke to BT about how the shoot of
Rating: 4 out of 5.
In 2002, Mohamedou Ould Salahi arrived in Guantanamo Bay prison, Cuba, deemed by the Americans to be the mastermind behind 9/11. It would be 14 years before Salahi would prove his innocence and eventually return to his home country of Mauritania.
The Mauritanian tells the story of Salahi (Tahar Rahim) and his lawyers Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) and Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) and their fight for justice against a country seeking vengeance for the September 11 attacks.
Salahi, who joined the Mujahideen fighting in Afghanistan to overthrow the Communist government in the 1980s, trained at Al-Qaida training camps before denouncing the group in the 1990s and returning to his studies in Germany. Despite, this he was captured in his native Mauritania, spending months in a jail in Jordon before arriving in Guantanamo Bay as the highest-value detainee on the base.
Sun 4 Apr 2021 06.30 EDT
When Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) arrives at Guantánamo Bay, sheâs wearing sunglasses. Her chic white bob and blue button-down shirt are hardly provocative, but a guard advises her to wear a hijab anyway â the detainees have been known to spit at women. The moment recalls Fosterâs trainee FBI agent Clarice Starling in
The
Silence of the Lambs, met with a different bodily fluid in the bowels of a psychiatric hospital.
The Mauritanian, a post-9/11 legal drama based on Mohamedou Ould Slahiâs 2015 memoir
Guantánamo Diary, is less concerned with the particular psychology of its incarcerated protagonist than with the political machinery that kept him behind bars without an official criminal charge for 14 years.