Movie Review - Rendition

1. The Catholic understanding of freedom is based on the concept of free will. We are human agents and we can decide what we do and what we don't do. Free will can lead to immoral actions and that is where moral teaching comes in to play. According to Kant we all have a duty to be good, but we still have the free will to choose not to. Free will acknowledges that by nature God has given us the ability to choose between good and evil. Natural law is part of the Catholic belief and states that humans are by nature good and they strive to be good.

2. a) The experience of obligation was expressed in the movie many times. The jihad extremists were obligated to sacrifice their lives for their beliefs. They believed that it was the only way to create true freedom and that they would be greatly rewarded for their sacrifice. The American government was obligated to ensure the protection of the American citizens so they had to secretly extradite Anwar El-Ibrahimi. In Muslim culture the women are obligated to remain under the authority of the father figure of the household. Fatima is going against her obligation to her father by leaving home and refusing to marry the man her father arranged for her.

b) The face as witness of the Good is expressed in a few instances during the movie. When Isabella is waiting at the office for her friend, they make eye contact and he sees the pain she is in and it motivates him to help her. After the American government extradites Anwar they torture him for information. Douglas is present during the torturing and he knows that Anwar is telling the truth because of his face. He sees the innocence and the good in his face. When Khalid is walking toward Fatima's father with explosives strapped on to him Fatima stops him and when he looks at her he sees the good in her and changes his mind.

3. Determinism takes away the concept of freedom and free will. it is the belief that everything we do has already been planned so we don't really have a choice to do what we want. Predestination is the belief that God has planned every action and decision of every person. This would compromise ethics because if everything we do is predestined then everything we do is ethical because it follows God's plan. This is a bad thing because you could do something unethical but because it has already been planned for you it would be ethical. For example if someone was looking for food and they stole some from a store it would be ethical because based on God's plan for that person they are supposed to steal the food.

4. As agents we have to take responsibility for the consequences of our actions. Every action or decision we make causes a chain reaction of other decisions and actions. In connection to the scream if we decide to help or not it plants a seed in the persons mind. When they hear a scream they remember that when they cried for someone came to help them or someone didn't and it affects their decision making. in the experience of the other if we give a beggar some money and that money helps him in any way and he straightens up his life, he will do the same when he sees another beggar on the street, and it will continue. All our actions affect someone or something and creates a chain that doesn't end. Another example would be on social media, when the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge took place, someone started the nominations, a small action, but within days it spread through most of the world. People who didn't even know about the challenge or the cause were made aware of it. Our world is like a giant web and we are all connected.

In the movie Rendition there are a few major actions that affect everyone. The rendition of Anwar affects his wife and son, his wife then involves her friend and he becomes affected by it, then he reaches out to other people and it just continues. When Khalid goes into the middle of the square and detonates the explosives he kills and injures innocent people changing their lives and the lives of their families. Everything we do has a positive and a negative reaction. For example winning a race. The negative reaction to winning a race is the fact that the only way you can win is if someone else loses. Nothing we do just disappears like it never happened because someone is always affected.