I tried to prepare myself for scenes of torture before going to see “Zero Dark Thirty,” the film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, since that’s mostly what I heard about ever since it came out. Most of the controversy has been over the film’s insinuation that torture played a part in finding bin Laden’s location. Senators Feinstein, McCain and Levin sent a letter to Sony Pictures attacking the film for being “grossly inaccurate and misleading” over the torture. Jane Mayer, of the New Yorker, and others, also strongly took issue with the film. Interestingly, Mark Bowden of “Black Hawk Down” fame says the film isn’t far off the mark of what happened.
So I was forewarned before I saw it. The torture scenes come near the beginning of “Zero Dark Thirty” as CIA agents are trying to get information out of al Qaeda detainees after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Luckily the scenes aren’t as gruesome as I feared though they are disturbing and not easy to watch.
A lot of the film is based around Maya, the CIA agent played by Jessica Chastain, who gleans information from a couple of the detainee interrogations and begins to try and track a possible bin Laden courier. Along the way, there’s various setbacks and other terrorist bombings that preoccupy the CIA, though Maya sticks to her guns about the courier, which leads to disputes with her boss who believes she’s on the wrong track. But very slowly Maya begins to make inroads into finding the courier, eventually tracking him to a large compound in Islamabad. Whether that is where Osama bin Laden is no one then could say for certain. The film’s last forty minutes shows a gripping real-time depiction of the Navy Seal raid on the fortress, where we know now bin Laden had been living for quite some time.
Director Kathryn Bigelow’s film is definitely worth seeing and is in my top ten picks for 2012, somewhere behind “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi” and maybe “Argo.” It’s gritty and maybe a bit overly Maya-concentrated but a riveting puzzle of our times uncovered. Whether torture led to any tips in the hunt for Osama bin Laden remains in dispute, but what’s not in dispute is that harsh interrogations were pursued after Sept. 11, with a few detainees reportedly being waterboarded well over a hundred times. Yet still bin Laden wasn’t found for a decade. I don’t think the film glorifies or justifies torture or is in favor of it, but makes note that it was used in the early years. I agree with the gist of Kathryn Bigelow’s defense of the film, which she wrote about in the Los Angeles Times.
What did you think of the film? Or do you not want to see it?
I am still debating whether or not to see this movie….torture in any form is difficult to watch. But even more horrendous is how easily those in positions of power fall into torturous acts when they believe these acts are warranted.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts…and here’s MY SUNDAY SALON POST
Yeah I agree. Can torture ever be justified? or No. Rather not go there
I probably won’t see this movie in the theater though I like your thoughtful review. I have a tough time with torture on the big screen. I can read just about anything or tolerate it at the theater, but when I am sitting in a dark place and can’t escape, I’m overwhelmed. I cringe. I close my eyes. I plug my ears. I’m anxious. Miserable.
Better to see it a t home, where I can leave the room with whatever excuse — water, food, bathroom I want to employ for my escape.
I understand Barbara. It’s not an easy thing.
I definitely want to see it. My wife and I are planning to see it tonight or maybe tomorrow. I really wanted to see Argo, but didn’t get to when it was our local theater. It was only there for a week and then was gone. I think I’m going to have go see this one now before it goes away after what might only be a week.
We saw The Hurt Locker and enjoyed that one more than we thought we would. So we’re looking forward to seeing this. I didn’t even know about the controversy over the torture scene until you mentioned it.
I hope you like it Bryan. It’s pretty intense like Hurt Locker was. Let me know what you think of it
I am purposely not seeing this movie for that reason. I prefer such as Les Miserables than a movie that is basically about water boarding; I saw Hurt Locker and honestly didn’t see what was so Oscar worthy about it and thought it was a rather dull film.
I’m very curious about this movie. I’m a little nervous about the torture scenes — I don’t like a lot of violence — but I think it will be worth it. I really want to see Argo too.
Yeah go for it Kim. Both this one and Argo are well worth it.
I prefer my movies to be totally based on fiction so I will skip this one. When I enter a theater, which is so rare these days, I want to be taken away not reminded of what already happened.
Interesting point Ti.
I haven’t seen this one because I doubt I could handle those scenes. Maybe this will be a rental.