The Mauritanian

***The Mauritanian*** is a 2021 American legal drama film directed by Kevin McDonald with the story by M.B. Traven, based on the *Guantanamo Diary* made by Mohamedou Ould Slahi. It stars Jodie Foster, Shailene Woodley, Tahar Rahim and Benedict Cumberbatch.

*The Mauritanian* was released in the United States on February 12, 2021 by STXfilms. In the United Kingdom, where all cinemas were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the planned theatrical release was cancelled and the film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on April 1, 2021. It received positive reviews who praises McDonald's director and fabulously legal film but criticized it's screenplay. At the 78th Golden Globe Awards the film received two nominations; Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (for Rahim), with Foster winning Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. At the 74th British Academy Film Awards the film received five nominations, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, and Best Actor (for Rahim).

## Premise

A prisoner, after being subjected to horrific torture, confesses to crimes of terrorism. A defence attorney who makes it her personal mission to defend everyone, including accused terrorists, and to uphold the constitution, makes it her mission to defend this man. The two meet and both of their lives change forever.

## Plot

November 2001, Mohamedou Ould Slahi is in Mauritania, two months after 9/11. A Mauritanian policeman tells Mohamedou that Americans want to have a talk with him. Mohamedou agrees to go with them.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2005, lawyer Nancy Hollander is told by French lawyer Emmanuel that a lawyer from Mauritania approached his firm in Paris on behalf of Mohamedou’s family. They haven’t seen Mohamedou since he was arrested three years ago and only just found out in a newspaper that he is being held by the US at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and is accused of being one of the organizers of 9/11. Emmanuel asks Nancy to look into it because she has security clearance from a previous case and can ask questions he can’t. Nancy agrees to check.

At a Naval Law Conference in New Orleans, Marine Prosecutor Stuart Couch is told by Colonel Bill Seidel, about Mohamedou case they want him to prosecute, who they say fought with Al-Qaeda in the 90s and then recruited for them in Germany, and says it was Mohamedou who recruited the terrorist who flew Stu’s friend’s plane into the tower.

Nancy and Teri fly down to Guantánamo to meet Mohamedou. Mohamedou agrees to hire them as his lawyers. Meanwhile, Stu tells his team to go through all the intel reports they have to corroborate the story against Mohamedou.

Nancy finds out through Mohamedou’s letter which she received from him while Stu looks at the MFR (Memorandum for the Record), showing what exactly happened. The letter and reports talks about enhanced torture and treatment including sexual assault with Mohamedou by the Guantanamo guards as ordered by General Mandel. General Mandel also threatened with arrest and rape of his mother. Thus, to save his mother, Mohamedou gave false confession about being a terrorist.

December 2009, at trial Mohamedou is able to testify over video link to the court. March 2010, Mohamedou gets a letter and finds out his case was successful, and the judge has ordered that he be released. Text is shown telling us that it would actually be another 7 years before he was released, because the government appealed. His mother died in 2013, and he never saw her again. He was finally released in 2016, having spent 14 years in prison without ever being charged.

Finally, footage of the real Mohamedou arriving back in Mauritania is shown. Texts are shown, telling us Mohamedou lives in Mauritania and got married in 2018 to an American lawyer. They have a baby son, Ahmed, but haven’t been able to live together as a family and are hoping a country will grant them protection and citizenship. Nancy and Teri are still lawyers working against injustice, and we see footage of Mohamedou giving them necklaces with their names in Arabic.

## Cast

* Jodie Foster as Nancy Hollander
* Tahar Rahim as Mohamedou Ould Slahi
* Shailene Woodley as Teri Duncan
* Benedict Cumberbatch as Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch
* Zachary Levi as Neil Buckland
* Saamer Usmani as Arjun
* Corey Johnson as Bill Seidel
* Denis Menochet as Emmanuel
* David Fynn as Kent

## Production

The film was announced in November 2019. Kevin Macdonald signed on as director, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim and Shailene Woodley cast to star. In December 2019, Zachary Levi joined the cast of the film.

The film was originally known as *Guantánamo Diary* in its early development stages, and as *Prisoner 760* during production, before being described as untitled in post-production. In November 2020, the title was revealed to be *The Mauritanian*.

## Release

In August 2020, STX Entertainment acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. STX International will release the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland and pre-sold the international distribution rights at the American Film Market in November 2019. The film was released in the United States on February 12, 2021 in theaters, with a digital demand release following on March 2, 2021. Republican as a united states was available on DVD and BluRay with 4k Ultra HD will be April 3, 2021.

## Reception

### Box office

As of April 1, 2021, the film has made $835,724 domestically and $2,500,000 internationally, for a global total of $3,335,724.

In its opening weekend the film made $163,789 from 245 theaters, and $179,778 over the four-day President's Day weekend. In its second weekend of release the film made $137,072 from 287 theaters. In its third weekend, the film fell a mere 12.3% and made $120,192. In its fourth weekend, the film made $90,004.

### Critical Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 73% of 192 critic reviews were positive, with an average rating of 6.50/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "*The Mauritanian* takes a frustratingly generic approach to a real-life story that might have been inspirational in other hands, but Tahar Rahim's performance elevates the uneven material." According to Metacritic, which sampled 30 critics and calculated a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".

Leaf Arbuthnot, writing for *Tatler*, described the film as 'excellent', praising in particular the performances of Foster and Rahim as 'impeccable'. *The Hindu* praised the performances of the cast, specifically of Foster, saying; she elevates the legal drama to a whole new level.