On May 2nd 2011, SEAL Team Six of U.S. Special Forces killed Osama bin Laden. That messed up plans of director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal who were working on a film about a years-long and unsuccessful hunt for the man. They of course changed the story and reportedly scrapped all of their previous work to start anew. The result is "Zero Dark Thirty" (a term marking time between midnight and dawn), one of the most lauded films of the year with five Oscar nominations but also one of the most controversial with its depiction of torture at CIA black sites.
The torture scenes caused a lot of fuss in USA with many taking them as a sign of approval of the methods and politicians from both sides of the spectrum condemning the movie, claiming that no piece of information which lead to the murder of Osama bin Laden came from torture. But are that scenes really that problematic? It is widely known that US military utilized torture in interrogation and it's fair to assume that was so in those first few years of the hunt for bin Laden when the emotions were running high. Not to mention that in the film the torturing really doesn't prove all that useful. It gives Maya, a CIA operative and main character, a name which she never heard of before yet she decides to pursue it relentlessly only to find out that everyone else know of that name, which makes us wonder how she never heard of it in the first place. What's more interesting is that, although both politicians and the authors of the film claim that the whole operation was a product of hard and dedicated work by a group of extraordinary individuals, the film shows it just as a combination of one person's hunch and persistence and pure luck. Now, an idea of US intelligence services functioning just on hunch and luck, that's something really controversial, but to my surprise no one seems to have noticed that.
"Zero Dark Thirty" is in its essence a classic underdog story. A young, unexperienced, but talented operative has everything going against her but in the end prevails. Although the end is not a happy one for her as she realises that she has no life outside the just completed mission. The main problem with the story is a lack of emotions it provides. We never find out what is it that's driving Maya, making her disregard everything else in favor of her job. The only thing I can assume is that it's a desire to prove she is equally capable as the rest of her colleagues (if not more so) and to make a name for herself amongst them. That adds the subject of male-female (in)equality to the film, parallels with director Bigelow being more than obvious. However, the fact she succeeded more due to a coincidence than to hard work and especially the characterization of the other female operative don't do it justice.
As with any other work based on a true event there is a conversation on how closely does it follow the truth, but, as always, it's completely misplaced. It's not a documentary and its goals should lie elsewhere, namely in making a compelling and tense middle part because we all know how it begins and how it ends. But it's right there where the film fails. After learning of Abu Ahmed's existence and of his connection to bin Laden as his personal courier the investigation reaches a dead end. It becomes more and more obvious that they really can't find the guy but then a file which no one knew existed miraculously appears and Abu Ahmed's true identity is revealed. It still doesn't help much though. Maya and her colleagues narrow the search to two cities in Pakistan from which he's calling home, but he always calls from a different public phone and they simply don't have enough men to cover all of them. Another situation with no way out requires another miracle. This time the courier buys a cell-phone and they get his number. Why would a man so careful to cover all of his tracks suddenly buy a cell-phone thus allowing the CIA operatives to track him down is beyond my comprehension. But even after that the film doesn't pick up pace. It took around half a year of surveillance to get permission to invade the residence of Abu Ahmed, and the film makes sure we get that. For most of the time the characters do nothing but show their powerlessness and all the scenes that could leave some impact on the viewer are brought down in advance by suggestive filmmaking which make us foresee the outcome. When in the final half an hour came the much anticipated raid scene, my attention was in spite my best efforts much lower than in the beginning and I found the way it is filmed pretty messy and unclear. While my low attention no doubt helped it feel that way, it's a fact that Bigelow didn't care much for the clarity on that one. I can imagine that lack of clarity would easily be the case if I were to look at a real operation, still I feel that in the film the viewer should know who's where doing what.
Technically the film isn't that bad. Cinematography makes for some impressive moments but is mostly undone by an unimaginative editing. The script apart from aforementioned weak spots also has occasional flashes of excellence, mainly in some parts of the dialogue. The acting is solid all over the board, with Jessica Chastain once again proving her versatility although her role and performance are weaker than most of her work from year before. My personal high points of the film are Mark Strong in a good guy role, something you don't see so often, and James Gandolfini as head of the CIA, a comic relief so needed in two and a half hours of despair.
"Zero Dark Thirty" is in every way a step down for both Bigelow and Boal after the brilliant "The Hurt Locker", lacking its emotion and intensity as well as its profoundness. I can understand the reception in the USA due to the relevance that the story has for them, but an important story does not a good film make. And bearing in mind a feeling of futility present for the most part, I can't help but wonder if it would have been better for the film to embrace it fully by sticking to its original ending. Now imagine that controversy.
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