Stewart sees clearly now in 'Camp X-Ray'

Hidden among the tabloid exposés, paparazzi stalking and everything else that goes with the Kristen Stewart Celebrity Experience is the fact that she's actually a pretty good actress.

There's more to her skill set than the lip-biting and fawning over vampires that comprised much of her Bella Swan in the Twilight movies, and Stewart shows it in the gripping military drama Camp X-Ray (*** out of four; rated R; on VOD, and opens Friday in select cities).

Writer/director Peter Sattler's feature debut sends Stewart to Guantanamo Bay as a very green Army private named Cole, one of a new squad of mostly male guards assigned to watch over the detainees in the daylight hours.

Head corporal Ransdell (Lane Garrison) warns them that Gitmo is a war zone, even though there are no roadside bombs or fighter planes. While walls are there to prevent the Middle Eastern inmates from leaving, he tells the soldiers, "you are here to prevent them from dying."

Cole is indoctrinated the hard way to the daily dangers and annoyances, including getting feces thrown at her by one troublesome detainee named Ali (Payman Maadi). She's overcome with anger but instead of falling into lock-step with the torturous mind-set, Cole finds out more about Ali's history. And as the tale progresses, she finds more of a connection with him than with her military peers.

Sattler digs into both sides of those cell doors, exploring the combative side of soldiers having to "babysit" detainees while those inside the prison walls are driven mad by their lack of sleep and unfortunate conditions.

The soldiers — and the audience — are not privy to why the majority of the detainees are there, which makes it easier to relate to them on some level. If it was clear that they were terrorists responsible for deaths, it might not be as simple from a moviegoing standpoint.

Ali is seen being taken from his home, and put on a downward spiral over eight years before he meets Cole. It's a standout performance by Maadi, who beautifully captures a mixture of pathos and madness. He's come to the point of realizing his fate, and if he's not getting out, he'd just like to know how Harry Potter ends.

Stewart matches the strong impression she made in films earlier in her career such as Panic Room, In the Land of Women and especially The Cake Eaters. She deftly handles the simmering emotion that a soldier has to tamp down for superiors and prisoners alike. Over the course of the film, Sattler masterfully contrasts scenes where Cole anticipates looking in Ali's windowed cell, first with fearful disdain and with care later on.

It's that kind of performance, while holding her own with misogynistic soldiers and combing her hair with a plastic knife, that makes Stewart's talent stand at attention more than anything else.