Movie · 2021 · Drama, Thriller · 2h 9m · R · English
Curator score: 5.2/10 (129.9K ratings)
Overview
The true story of the Mauritanian Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was held at the U.S military's Guantanamo Bay detention center without charges for over a decade and sought help from a defense attorney for his release.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.2/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.70/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 75%
Metacritic: 53
TMDB: 7.4/10
Director
Kevin Macdonald
Production
30WEST, Topic Studios, STXfilms, SunnyMarch, BBC Film, Shadowplay Features
Cast
Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Levi, Langley Kirkwood, Saamer Usmani, Corey Johnson, Matthew Marsh, David Fynn, André Jacobs, Meena Rayann, Arthur Falko, Stevel Marc, Robert Hobbs, Nezar Alderazi, Denis Ménochet, Alaa Safi
Curator Review
Verdict
A solid, issue-driven legal drama anchored by Tahar Rahim’s humane performance and a strong sense of outrage, but it can feel procedural, familiar, and a bit scattered in its storytelling.
Best for
viewers who like courtroom and legal-procedural dramas
audiences drawn to true stories about civil liberties and government abuse
fans of restrained, performance-led dramas
people who don’t mind a sober, talky pace
Skip if
you want a tightly focused thriller with constant momentum
you’re looking for a deeply nuanced or formally daring political film
you prefer lighter entertainment over heavy real-world injustice
you’re already tired of post-9/11 detention and war-on-terror stories
Overview
The Mauritanian is most effective as a vehicle for anger and empathy. It turns a real case of extrajudicial detention into a watchable legal drama, and Tahar Rahim gives it the emotional center it needs. His performance keeps the film human even when the structure leans procedural and the beats feel familiar.
Worth noting
Kevin Macdonald stages the material efficiently, but the movie can feel uneven in how it distributes attention between the prison story, the defense work, and the broader political indictment. Jodie Foster adds sharpness and authority, though the film is often more compelling in its moral premise than in its dramatic construction.
Bottom line
If you want a sober true-story drama about state power, injustice, and the slow grind of legal resistance, this is worth a look. If you need something more propulsive or formally distinctive, it may land as respectable rather than essential.
Top Letterboxd reviews
john (3.5★) · 745 likes
Pretty cut and dry procedural, but a great addition to the "reasons to hate the United States" canon.
Jodie Foster stans rise.
2021 Ranked
JJ🃏 (3★) · 414 likes
If you are a trial movie bitch, you will enjoy it.
If you’re not, at least you’ll become a Jodie Foster bitch.
Oliver Swift (3.5★) · 344 likes
Things the movie wanted me to learn: how an inexcusable abuse of human rights stemmed from a fragile post 9/11 America
What I actually learned: Guantanamo Bay has a McDonalds
George Clark (3.5★) · 298 likes
Kevin Macdonald's legal drama, 'The Mauritanian', based on the 2015 memoir Guantánamo Diary, follows the story of Mohamedou Ould Salahi, a supposed 9/11 recruiter, as he fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for 14 years.
There was something I really dug about this film, something that kept on compelling me to watch on, investing me more in the story as time progressed. It's a powerful true story that unfolds in a way… more