Short(ish) review #9

Zero Dark Thirty (2012) - "The greatest manhunt in history."

During the run-up to the Academy Awards each year, there always seems to be a smear campaign again one of the nominees for Best Picture. For example, in 2012 the actress Kim Novak accused The Artist of "physically assaulting" her for including Bernard Hermann's score for Vertigo. There was also the case that John Nash who was portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind was an anti-Semite. Well, in 2013 many turned on this film.

Zero Dark Thirty chronicles the decade long hunt for Osama bin Laden, beginning with the events of 9/11 and concluding with the raid on the compound where he was discovered on 2nd May 2011. At the centre of it is Maya (Jessica Chastain (The Help)), an operative for the CIA who firstly witnesses the torturing of members of al-Qaeda and then becomes obsessed with the hunt for bin Laden. She concentrates most of her efforts on finding a man believed to be bin Laden's courier and that will be the key to locating the man himself.

It is directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who had previously won the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for The Hurt Locker. The film was originally going to be about the failed hunt for Osama bin Laden, during the American movement into Tora Bora when he escaped into Pakistan. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were just done writing the script and about to start filming when the events of May 2nd 2011 occurred. Boal went to Washington to report on how complicated the search for bin Laden was and that became the main emphasis of the film. Does Bigelow make a feminist point by making the lead character and protagonist a woman? Maybe, but it also highlights the importance and roles of woman in the CIA, as well as their part in finding bin Laden.

It does offer consideration into the realism of the film, as members of the CIA have spoken publicly about how the film is inspired by true events, but at the same time is very fictional. It begins with recorded messages of people caught up in the events of 9/11. There are also references to July 7th bombings in London in 2005, the 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad and the Camp Chapman attack in 2009. The name itself is a military meaning 12:30 AM. There was such a level of secrecy surrounding this film. It is also a very dark film, as the darkness descends on the atmosphere of the film, especially for the last 30 minutes (you may have to turn off all the lights and close the curtains at this point).

Part of the controversy surrounding this film was the notion that it glorified torture. The torture scenes take place early in the film and are shown to produce results. This includes practices such as waterboarding. These techniques were for a long time kept secret by the Bush administration. One of the scene that does stand out is where Maya and a group of other CIA operatives are watching TV and Barack Obama is saying that America does not do torture; they just sit in silence and don't react to it. Social critic and feminist Naomi Wolf wrote a comment piece for the Guardian, comparing Kathryn Bigelow to Leni Riefenstahl who famously directed the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will about the 1934 Nuremberg Rally. She concluded her article by saying: "Like Riefenstahl, you are a great artist. But now you will be remembered forever as torture's handmaiden." A lot of people who share similar beliefs about its "glorification" of torture may have formed an opinion without having seen it. It merely just depicts the issue. However, because of the subject matter you cannot ignore it; you have to acknowledge that they did take place. And they did not lead to the immediate capture of bin Laden. You have to remember that even though it lasts over 150 minutes, the actual hunt took 10 years.

Zero Dark Thirty had a budget of $40 million, which, compared to other films, is somewhat cheap. For obvious reasons, they could not use the exact locations in the film, so it was filmed in Jordan and Chandigarh, India (despite protests from local). Jessica Chastain gives a very good performance, which earned her an Oscar nomination. There are also good performances from other members of the casts, especially Mark Strong. The only thing I was unsure about with this film was the cameo from John Barrowman. Believe me, you will watch it and go "Eh, what's he doing there?"

This is a tense, gripping film about a story people loosely know what happens, but going into further detail, letting know to the full extent what happened. However, it is ultimately up to you as to whether it does glorify torture. For me, it doesn't...