Guantánamo Bay’s role in American foreign policy continues to be a source of controversy, one with which the world of cinema has struggled to grapple. The Mauritanian, a legal drama based on the memoir Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Salahi, places the experiences of one illegal detainee front and centre.

Mohamedou (Tahar Rahim) is captured by the U.S. government and transported to Guantánamo Bay to be interrogated for his supposed terrorist links and involvement, although without being charged for any crimes. Taking on his case is Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster), her motivation being to defend the constitution, rather than Mohamedou specifically, while opposing the prosecutor Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch).

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Rahim is the fulcrum around which the rest of The Mauritanian’s performances pivot. Foster, in particular, is reliably accomplished as the audience’s window into the U.S. perspective. Still, her performance requires an antithesis, and Rahim has a manner of distilling frustration into extremely watchable charisma. It’s a rounded performance, one with touches of wit in flashback scenes that make the anger he displays later in the film all the more affecting.

The rounded-out feeling to Mohamedou makes several torture sequences especially uncomfortable to watch. Of course, there is a lack of humanity in the acts depicted, but how Macdonald approaches these two elements and presents perspective is critical to The Mauritanian’s impact. Firstly, these are consistently from Mohamedou’s point of view. The disorientation he experiences is shown through the blending of memories and confusion. Viewers are left only with his subjective distress, rather than an objective outsider to emptily condemn it (Nancy’s experiences are relayed in written form via letters from Mohamedou). The filmmaking choices also communicate this extremely well, as Macdonald switches to wide lenses with distortion at the frame’s edge, for instance. Although it’s unlikely a technical choice can convey the experience, the inhumanity is indeed heavily contrasted with other perspectives in the film.

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Of those other perspectives, Foster conveys the drudgery of legal work and is necessarily, if disappointingly, staid (the long hand of time in these matters is perhaps better communicated in something like Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters). In contrast, Cumberbatch’s segments are pitched to have more political intrigue around them. These scenes are handled less effectively via back-and-forth banter with other government officials, as such moments always feel more like a passive-aggressive workplace spat than All the President’s Men. Cumberbatch does righteous indignation exceptionally well as the horror of the U.S. military’s deeds unfold, but his forced accent is distracting.

The Mauritanian has a political edge and points to make, emphasising in polarised times that the constitutional aberration of Guantánamo cuts across the partisan divide. The shame of the treatment meted out within the confines of Gitmo is one for the entire U.S. political sphere to bear. Although that idea is touched upon in the segments set within the U.S. borders, it’s a shame the idea isn’t made more forcefully. However, the foregrounding of Mohamedou’s experiences and perspective — and, by extension, all those subjected to Guantánamo’s purpose — is the fuel in The Mauritanian’s engine.