The Mauritanian
Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster, Oscar-nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tahar Rahim from 2009's A Prophet lead this damning true story of a detainee at the US military's Guantanamo Bay detention center held without charges for over a decade and seeks help from a defense attorney for his release. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), co-starring Zachary Levi (Shazam!) and Golden Globe-nominee Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies).
Best Supporting Actress (Foster), Golden Globes 2021
2021129 minsUK, USA
DramaThrillerTrue Story & Biography
- Director:
- Kevin Macdonald ('The Last King of Scotland', 'State of Play')
- Writer:
- Rory HainesSohrab NoshirvaniM.B. Traven
- Cast:
- Benedict CumberbatchJodie FosterShailene WoodleyTahar RahimZachary LeviLangley KirkwoodCorey Johnson
The Mauritanian / Reviews
The Washington Post
The movie lands, through no fault of its own other than timing, with a whiff of been-there, done-that.
Full reviewA.V. Club
The Mauritanian transforms a memoir of unlawful detention into just another shouty courtroom drama.
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The New York Times
Flavourless characters and a blizzard of flashbacks further repel our involvement in a drama whose timing, to say the least, is unfortunate.
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San Francisco Chronicle
Rahim noses The Mauritanian just over the line into the realm of a mild recommendation.
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Boston Globe
It's a steady, compelling accounting of events that intends to leave you infuriated and succeeds.
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RogerEbert.com
The Mauritanian fails to humanise the story it's telling, never coming off as something more challenging or interesting than a superficial, manipulative accounting of true events.
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Chicago Sun-Times
Tahar Rahim does a brilliant job of portraying the title character... with Jodie Foster in prime form as his lawyer.
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Associated Press
The Mauritanian... gets one thing very right: Tahar Rahim's masterful central performance.
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Rolling Stone
An adaptation of a Guantanamo prisoner’s memoir splits its time between legal drama and P.O.W. survivalist tale - and gives you one first-rate performance.
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Slant Magazine
Kevin Macdonald's film never captures the spectrum of a life lived in unimaginable extremis.
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Collider
Rahim's strong central performance in Kevin Macdonald's drama makes America's recent sins feel even more potent and raw.
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Hollywood Reporter
Remains strangely flat, despite its star power and a gripping central performance from Tahar Rahim as Slahi.
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