ZERO DARK THIRTY
US, 2012, 157 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong, Harold Perrineau, Kyle Chandler.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
Amazing that such a detailed film on the search for Osama Bin Laden (and finding him) could be in theatres within a year and a half of the actual events. The film has been praised (with awards, nominations and critical acclaim) for its picture of US intelligence and the work of the CIA (both effective and not). The film has been damned as a gung ho movie in favour of American foreign policy after 9/11. It has been criticised by US senators and intelligence personnel as providing a false image of the use of criticisms.
But… it is a feature film, a dramatisation, rather than a documentary. Clearly, there is always the danger that literal-inclined audiences will take each scene as presenting the truth, rather than representing aspects of the truth in a theatrical way.
One of the main impressions gained by this reviewer is how the search for Bin Laden was poorly handled for almost a decade. At one stage, Maya (Jessica Chastain) points out that the approach to finding him was based on pre-9/11 suppositions that he would be hiding in the caves of Afghanistan (which my be the impression that most people did, in fact, have) rather than in Pakistan suburbia.
The torture is certainly a significant issue and is presented graphically. To deny the extent of water-boarding may be accurate but in the light of the Abu Grab revelations, there was torture and humiliation of prisoners. As to how much information was gained by torture, that is a further discussion.
In the film, the torture sequences introduce us to Maya, deemed something of a ‘killer’ at the end of her training. At first she is repelled by the torture she watches. Then we see her get used to it, her further toughening in her work, much of which takes place in Pakistan.
But, it is Maya and her staff, her shrewdness in following through leads and hunches which does eventually lead to the identification of the whereabouts of Bin Laden and his family. Not that she gets a great deal of support from her bosses and from Washington officials – the mean don’t really think that women can be as effective as Maya (and underestimate her persistence, even when she posts the day by day delays on her boss’s door).
The culmination of the film is in the picture of the preparation for the raid, the helicopters’ night flight across the Afghan mountains into Pakistan, the details of the landing, the raid, the search, finding the family, identifying Bin Laden and his death).
This is a long film but, whatever one’s political opinions, one’s views on the CIA, one’s belief in America or not, it is a gripping film. It was written by journalist Mark Boal, who wrote the screenplays for In the Valley of Elah and the Oscar-winning, The Hurt Locker. Kathryn Bigelow won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker. She proves she can direct powerful action and war films with Zero Down Thirty.
1. The awards, the achievement?
2. The background of Al- Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, acts of terrorism, 9/11, the US, the war on terror, the CIA and its role? Audiences and their sympathies and interests?
3. The facts, the use of facts, the narrative, atmosphere, the war on terror?
4. The writer, his insights into Iraq, the war on terror? Audience knowledge of these events? The work of Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker, the blend of fact and fiction?
5. The title, its meaning, the time, the mission?
6. The structure: the dark screen and the voices and the reactions of terror in 2001, 9/11? The transition to interrogations and torture? The gathering of information? The treatment of the prisoners? The further bombings? The attack on London in 2005? The change in policy on torture? Bombings in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan? The focus on identities, the discovery of the house and compound in Islamabad, the deductions, politics and strategies and decisions, the execution of the mission? The audience able to follow the details of the investigation, the work of the CIA?
7. The audience looking at the atrocities, the torture, in detail, the water-boarding ... emotional responses?
8. The use of the locations in Pakistan, Afghanistan? The vistas of the cities, the people, their lifestyle? Different from the US?
9. The United States and 9/11, the declaration of the war on terror, the methods, the rules of engagement, the change, especially about torture? The transition from Bush to Obama? The military, the search for bin Laden, for avenging America, for revenge on bin Laden? Audiences in the United States, patriotic sentiments? The rest of the world?
10. The focus on Maya? A female agent, the men’s response to her, her story of being recruited, the twelve years of work, her being called a killer, put in the field, witnessing the torture and interrogations, her own methods? Her development in her work over the years? Her experience, becoming tougher, the intelligence gained, dealing with people, the friendship with Jessica after the rivalry? CIA speculation? The death of Jessica? Her being ignored in the men’s meetings – and drawing attention to herself, with graphic language? Her impatience, the criticisms of the superior officer? Writing the number of days of inaction on his glass wall? Her interactions with Joseph Bradley, her intimidating him? His successor? Her relationship with Dan, his interrogations and torture, the continued contacts, the favours, her being shot at in Pakistan? The meetings, the request about certainty on bin Laden’s compound? Her comment about male certainty, ninety-five percent? Her lunch with the government liaison? The announcement of the mission, her being an observer, her hearing the good news, her identifying the corpse of bin Laden, going home alone on the special plane? A symbol of America, the CIA? No personal life of her own? Obsession and dedication? Her achievement?
11. The issues of torture, water torture, the giving and suppressing of food, putting the prisoner in the box, stripping, cleanliness, hanging by wrists? The good cop, bad cop routines? The audience and the reaction to victims, their suffering, yet their being complicit in atrocities? The information given under pressure? The initial interrogations? The later interrogation of the businessman who gave the information not wanting to be tortured?
12. Dan, as a person, his interrogations, his rhetoric, having to be an actor, having to be a psychologist? His treatment of prisoners, his own personal attitudes, his interactions with Maya? Later, his asking favours of people – the Pakistani and the gift of the Lamborghini for the telephone number? His work in Washington?
13. The contrast with the ordinary soldiers, their assisting in the torture, with security, going in to do the work of the mission? The camaraderie, the preparations, the mission and action? The killing of bin Laden, the taking of prisoners? The documentation? Its being classified?
14. The team of the CIA in Pakistan, Afghanistan? Their discussions amongst themselves, favours for each other, Bradley and his command, his successor, not wanting the pressure from Maya? The various contacts, spies, surveillance on the road to the bin Laden compound? Surveillance of phones, the maps, the satellite images? The limits of the information? The dangers in Pakistan – and the car, the men on bikes with guns, not wanting white faces in the district?
15. Jessica, her work in the CIA, criticising Maya, working with her, the women in the CIA, ideas, the meeting, the explosion and her death, the information that she had three children?
16. The picture of the CIA, the post-9/11 mentality, documentation being given to them, too much, unable to sift? Information about names? Photos? Identities? The suspects looking alike? The big families? Debbie and her finding the truth about the contact, getting the phone number, monitoring his calls, following him, finding the bin Laden compound? The critique of the slow bureaucratic methods? The contrast with dedicated members and their obsessions?
17. The administration in Washington, the president wanting proof, his decision – the visualising of the mission, flying from Afghanistan, the helicopters, the crash, the attack, the guns, the sites? The people in the compound? The death of bin Laden, the body bag? The end of the mission?
