Jodie Foster goes up against Benedict Cumberbatch in The Mauritanian’s tense new trailer

A new trailer for the tense legal drama The Mauritanian was released by STXFilms on Friday, ahead of its release in February.

Depicting the true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi (played by Tahar Rahim), the film stars Jodie Foster as defence attorney Nancy Hollander, and the tense clip opens with her visiting him in Guantanamo Bay and saying she’d like to defend his case.

Mohamedou, who was held in the detention centre without charge, stands accused of being one of the recruiters for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the film, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s character Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch is ‘seeking the death penalty’.

Speaking with his team, the military man warns them: ‘If we mess up then this guy goes home.’

While incarcerated, Mohamedou speaks with Nancy and her associate Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley) and tells them ‘there’s no evidence, I am innocent.’  

Cutting to a tense meeting with Couch, he asks Nancy if it ‘doesn’t bother [her] working for someone like this’, but she hits back: ‘I’m not just defending him, I am defending the law. When did we start locking up people without a trial in this country?’

Showing some dark scenes featuring coercion and torture, Mohamedou is heard saying: ‘Where I’m from in Mauritania, we know not to trust the police, but never did I believe that the United States would use fear and terror to control me.’

Nancy, trying to help get him out of the detention centre, says to him: ‘You need tell me what happened to you or I can’t defend you, do you understand that?’

But Mohamedou appears to be apprehensive about doing that, as he hits out: ‘You’re asking me to set fire to this place but I’m still sitting in it.’

Shailene’s Teri confers with Nancy in another seen, telling her that Mohamedou might be guilty, but the defence attorney remains steadfast by claiming: ‘Maybe he is, but we’re doing our job.’ 

As scenes show Mohamedou being taken to Guantanamo Bay are revealed, Benedict’s Couch says: ‘I’ve never been part of a conspiracy but this is what it must be like to be on the outside of one.’

Taking a different approach to the trial, Nancy is then heard saying: ‘I think I’ve figured out why they built Guantanamo down there, my client is not a suspect he’s a witness.’

The movie is directed by Last King Of Scotland filmmaker Kevin Macdonald and is based on the memoir by Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohamedou, who was held for 14 years without trial.

In his bestseller Guantanamo Diary, first published with redactions in 2015, the Mauritanian-born Mohamedou detailed how he was abused and tortured during his captivity which ran from 2002 to 2016.

The Mauritanian will be released by STX Entertainment in the UK on February 26, and in United States on February 19, 2021.