Kathryn Bigelow was riding high in 2010. She just became the first female director to win Best Director at the Oscars over her ex-husband, and her film won best picture. That kind of pedigree gave her the excuse to film anything she wanted. Instead of resting on her laurels with her 2nd film, she already had her hands deep in the governments search for Osama Bin Laden. Bigelow’s sophomore effort, Zero Dark Thirty, chronicles the lengthy manhunt of Public Enemy #1. She takes the search and turns it into a tight thriller that leads to the tense 30 minute raid on the bunker in Abbottabad. Bigelow is 2 for 2.
Zero Dark Thirty takes place from September 11, 2001 (only sounds) to that fateful day in May 2011. We start seeing the immediate after effects of 9-11 with a brutal torture sequence involving Dan (Jason Clarke) and Maya (Jessica Chastain). Maya is new to the field operations, but quickly rises up the ranks with her astute pattern recognition (she found out about Bin Laden’s courier) and unbreakable resolve. She quickly gains supporters in her CIA field director (Kyle Chandler), CIA Washington Director (Mark Strong), and eventually the CIA director (Leon Pannetta, played by James Gandolfini). Based on Maya’s deductive reasoning, we learn President Obama gives the go ahead for Seal Team 6 led by Patrick (Joel Edgerton) and Justin (Chris Pratt) to raid the compound.
The biggest hot button issue out of Zero Dark Thirty is the torture sequences. Many in Washington have been quick to demagogue the movie for saying that it is pro-torture. The real answer is more nuanced than that. There are some terrific scenes showing how torture can produce answers, but the answers lead to dead ends. The short-term results proved mixed at best; however, as the film progresses, you can see the terrorists have been informed of the techniques being used against them, and they are ready to confess to avoid such techniques. Though torture may be awful and dehumanizing, the lasting mental impression on US enemies is long-lasting and proved to be a nice advantage in obtaining information.
Along with torture, Bigelow does an expert job showing how obtaining information changes in the CIA over the course of time. At first, the drastic measures were seen as one of the best ways to extract names and dates, but when the politics gets more involved, deductive reasoning and technology shine. We see tracking phone calls, moving signals in vehicles, and similar techniques used by terrorists to hide information. I came out of Zero Dark Thirty thinking about how resourceful some of the field agents can be, and how clever CIA analysts are.
It is amazing that Zero Dark Thirty is considered a thriller since we know the ending. Bigelow and writer Mark Boal do a wonderful job showing the escalating tension though leads that turn true and false as well as the threats on the field agents that unexpectedly take place. As tense as the raid is, Maya’s push to get the raid approved matches that scene’s intensity. Using Maya’s frustration to represent the building tension, we get to see the closed-door meetings she is not invited to where her hunches are being discussed and attempted to be disproven. Seeing as how she has spent her entire life on this case, her frustration bursts through her pores as her belief system is repeatedly challenged. Bigelow extracts the most out of the approval process without being repetitive.
Lots of credit goes to the acting. Jessica Chastain exudes a stoic, cold determination rarely seen in females in films. This is Maya’s victory more than most, and Chastain excels showing Maya’s gradual change from background player to major party in the hunt for Bin Laden. The rest of the cast is filled with character actors solidly performed. Kyle Chandler and Mark Strong do a really nice job with their CIA director characters, and Jason Clarke is as fierce and smart as Maya in his work as a torture interrogator.
I will never forget where I was when the news came in late that night on May 2. I was watching as thousands of people embarked on the White House and Capital, cheering and carrying American flags. Never had I seen such catharsis from a people. Zero Dark Thirty reminds us of the tireless ingenuity and resolve of the key parties who helped make Seal Team 6 a household name. Zero Dark Thirty is a thank you to all those people, and one of the best pictures of the year.