I'm desperately trying to catch up on all of biggest films from the last year. Zero Dark Thirty (along with Skyfall) where two films I was desperately trying to catch a pre-screening of before leaving Sony in the fall. Alas, these films were heavily under lock-and-key. Then it just breezed by me in theaters (not Skyfall, though). Finally, I got my hands on a copy of this film and am slowly checking off my list of all the 2012 films I needed to see.
The film is decent. Many people I've spoken to about it have loved it. I'll admit, watching the torture and interrogation scenes the fill the first act is some pretty brutal stuff. Not Saw brutal, but after hearing about waterboarding for years then seeing it performed in a realistic manner is some intense shit. And the final scene - the storming of Bin Laden's compound - was riveting. Still, there was some pieces of this film that lost me.
One main detail that pulled me out of the movie were the US intelligence characters' banter involving swarms of middle-eastern names. This really only happens in the first act, but it made it incredibly hard to figure out who was on first base. The intelligence team is trying to track down Bin Laden by uncovering his curriers/contacts. In this process they spit out various names here and there, over and over again. My head spins. I had no clue who or what they were going after at that point. They tried to help guide the audience through this my inserting title cards between the scenes that highlights what the itelligence team was focused on. They put their main target's name right up on screen for everyone to see and understand. Yet, still, I get lost. But this comes from a guy who still fails to pronounce bolognese (I say "bo-log-nes-si") every time I go out for pasta. Plus I repeated Spanish level 2, three times. Foreign cultures and languages are just lost on me.
The film clocks in at a little over two and a half hours. A bit on the long side, yet, it didn't really feel that way. The last scene, as I already said, is pretty fascinating. It felt like it took place in only five minutes when in reality I bet it was closer to 30. I also applaud the film for never actually showing Bin Laden's face (either alive or dead). The story revolves around one agent's concentration on the manhunt. Even putting aside that this is a true story, or the fact that no one should profit from an image of Osama, I liked just watching this woman's reaction to her victory. They made it her story. The film ends on her face, preparing to fly out of the Middle East, as tears well up in her eyes. Smart and intriguing way to frame this story.
Not my favorite film of the past year, but definitely worth a watch if you're curious about checking it out.
Yeah, I saw this in theaters and had a similar reaction. Good, well-made, but not perfect. I have to ask you this though - regardless of whatever your personal politics are, now that you've seen the movie, would you agree that the torture backlash was overblown? There's one sort of intense scene, and it lasts for five minutes or so, but I couldn't shake the idea that I'd seen this a dozen times before on 24. Plus, the film hardly "endorses" torture; [minor spoilers] the torture doesn't crack the guy, and thus, torture is shown to be inefficient, if anything. [end spoilers] Without touching the issue of whether or not torture is justifiable with a ten foot pole, truly, I just don't get the extent of the backlash here. Did I miss something?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree with the torture backlash being a bit overblown. The film never truly endorses it. I mean, it's still revolting to watch. Not just the water-boarding, but the sleep depravation, starvation, humiliation, whatever the fuck that box thing was - it was a bit hard to watch. But to claim the film is promoting/encouraging torture doesn't seem accurate. You're right in that it didn't get them the info they were looking for anyways. I think there was just a lot being misread into this movie. Plus it was originally slated to come out in the fall during election season, so maybe that got people more amped up to rag on it one way or another.
ReplyDeletePoint is, it is still poignant and interesting movie to watch that reflects to pros and cons to fighting a war.