In this response paper on Rendition, I will be focusing on Khalid played by Moa Khouas and Douglas Freeman played by Jake Gyllenhaal. As I watched Khalid and his actions I felt they were not things he himself decided to do on his own, but that he was being taught this so it seems that Khalid is functioning as a result of nurturing and through awards for his aggression. You see evidence of this in a picture of Khalid and his brother in the pictures the two were holding guns and seemed to be part of an extremist group. However these extremist groups appear to have nothing but young men (teens) sacrificing their life, because an older authority is telling them they should for their country, for freedom and for God. These older authorities use the aggression these men may have and, as Bandura notes, rewards them for using it towards a certain target, in this case Abasi Fawal.
I see Khalid as the main representative for these young men because his situation appears to be like many there. Khalid’s brother, who also in an extremist group, was caught in a raid by Abasi’s officers and was tortured for information. He, however, died in the processes and pictures showed how upset Khalid was. I think this anger was manipulated by the older men because they would tell him to “remember your brother” as a way to keep their influence on him and for him to continue with the plan to kill Abasi Fawal. The last scene shows him strapped with a bomb under his coat being urged on by the elders to go and detonate it by Abasi and because Abasi had his bother tortured he is able to be pushed as far as putting on the bomb and getting out of the truck. However, he is unable to carry out this action because of his new influence, Fatima. He is unable to carry out the wishes of his elders because he loves her and as one of his peers she does not condone the violence; unfortunately he is shot by the elders so the bomb goes off anyway killing himself and Fatima. However I would like to note that even though their actions are harmful to others their process of thinking could easily fall into Kohlberg’s Stage 6 because they are using civil disobedience to oppose the government’s treatment of accused individuals. As for Douglass Freeman, I feel he is first functioning at Kohlberg’s level II, stage 4 of Moral reasoning, because of the profession that he has chosen to do, be an agent for the CIA. He is willing to go through certain procedures that are within their power as the CIA in order to maintain social order and protect its citizens. We also see this as he fills in for Gibson in order to keep the investigation going on the Brigade involved in the bombing. He is also willing to do whatever is necessary for information as we see him sit through Anwar being tortured. However, we do see him struggle to watch this “form of questioning” and does refer to it as his “first torture” when talking to Meryl Streep’s character Corinne. And I noticed him starting to think in a different way when he interrupts Abasi’s process and ask questions that he later investigates.
In the scene where he goes to see the Minister of the Anterior, I am assuming to be over Abasi, he is presenting the evidence as to why Anwar is innocent. He makes his points after he discovers that Anwar’s confession was something he said just to stay alive. He then explains why their form of questioning can create more enemies and therefore continuing the cycle of rebellious attacks because of what their government is dong to their people when they don’t follow the dictated social order. And he questions the Minister and asks him to provide evidence as to how and why this whole situation makes sense and why he should continue. Freeman’s conversation shows his reasoning at Kohlberg’s level III stage 5 because he is now more concerned with the rights of this man and how his holding is not within democratic procedures in return violating his basic human rights.
Finally I see Freeman transitioning into the last of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development Level III Stage 6, a stage which we see few people in this movie reach; however I feel Fatima also hits this stage on some level as she is willing to risk her life to save her father. Freeman then goes to the prison where Anwar is being kept and presents his release papers and goes to Anwar’s cell where he rushes him to get dressed. The guard tries to stop them but he states the papers are signed and yells for the door to be opened. His rushed and forceful behavior shows that he knows his action carry a consequence but he needs to carry out his plan before his boss catches up to him. He has set Anwar up with everything h needs to get home before his boss calls him, which Freeman hangs up on, because again he is aware of his actions and is acting in the name of democracy or at least what he believes t be morally right. He also tells his story to the paper in order to spread the information as to what has occurred and, I would say, to influence others to think more on this level.
Freeman’s actions are what seem to put him at stage 6 because had he done nothing but talk and discuss in the protocol that is allowed by his job then I think he would still be at level 5 because this level does not involve any actual civil disobedience even though one is concerned with the upholding of civil rights and liberties. For example, the Senator’s aid Alan who did not take any real physical action although he was concerned; he only pushed as far as he could within his social realm in order to not upset the Senator who wanted to go after something more important to their campaig