Zero Dark Thirty

(1/10/13, one star) Kathryn Bigelow and her new movie Zero Dark Thirty deserve our universal contempt and condemnation for condoning torture. Bigelow revisits the darkest chapter in U.S. history (U.S. torture in the Middle East in the aftermath of 9/11) and dwells on it, not to condemn the actions of U.S. leaders who authorized this campaign of state terror against Muslim prisoners but rather to vindicate the torturers and justify the savagery that earned the undying enmity of millions of Arabs. Bigelow is too crafty to explicitly hold up criminals as heroes worthy of veneration but instead constructs a superficial veneer of faux-journalistic neutrality that will fool only the most gullible along with those anxious to buy into the dangerous delusion she is peddling. She dedicates large segments of her movie to portraying U.S. torturers as selfless patriots and their victims as homicidal maniacs, but not one minute to explaining why they attack us. Of course, we can't have Americans wondering what our government had been doing to make Muslims hate us so much. And with 9/11 our national descent into deceit, denial and self-delusion began, with no end in sight yet. According to the official myth still being perpetuated by our government and unconscionable propagandists like Bigelow, Muslim radicals are never rational actors but rather just crazed fanatics, to be tortured and destroyed like mad dogs. And now Bigelow compounds this ongoing national folly with the resurrection of its corollary Big Lie: torture of detainees is compatible with democracy, even necessary to protect it.

Torture is just another form of terrorism. When the state tortures detainees, it is state terrorism, directed ultimately against all humanity as well as against individual detainees. Torturers degrade and dehumanize themselves, their victims, and any society that tolerates their crimes. How can anyone claim victory over terrorism when they employ it themselves? Besides, torturers (most famously, the Nazi and Communist regimes in Germany and Russia) have always rationalized torture on grounds of public security, but have always ultimately used torture as a weapon to terrorize the public and crush political opposition. (Do we really want to emulate the Nazis and Communists?) In the long run, torturers are a more pernicious threat to both our security and our liberty than any Al Qaeda agent could ever hope to be.

Senator McCain is right when he says that Zero Dark Thirty gives our enemies powerful ammunition to use against us, especially if it garners awards. Audiences around the world will see the movie as confirmation that the horrors of Abu Ghraib reflect the real soul of America.

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I actually did. With its length, complicated nature and incredible detail Zero Dark Thirty was a fantastic piece of work. Jessica Chastain was brilliant in the convincing centre piece of the narrative. It was long, starting strong, losing credit towards the middle but the final hour was terrific. Right down to the raid which was full of suspense and drama. Like the raid itself, it was a precise and scintillating piece of cinema. In the end it felt worth it, I have little interest in the context of its accuracies of the actual events, nor its controversy. In the scheme of things I watched for entertainment, and it delivered. If you're in the mood for something dramatic with a serious tone, watch Zero Dark Thirty.

Zero Dark Thirty is a procedural CIA-based thriller in the mould of TV's Homeland. This film, however, is based on real-life events, so it doesn't have the benefit of being able to withhold in the way Homeland's first series did with Twin Peaks-like delectation. What Zero Dark Thirty does have is a narrative based on first-hand accounts, and it makes no explicit judgement about the content of those accounts. We simply get to see what (apparently) happened during the manhunt for "UBJ".

The film's lack of polemic is both a blessing a curse. It's a blessing because it's rare that a film dealing with such volatile subject matter is depicted procedurally. Usually when a narrative is made ostensibly apolitical it's as a result of an unconvincing moral rebalancing, where the filmmakers go to great lengths to present both sides fairly. But Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow's disinterest is also a curse because, in avoiding judgement, it surreptitiously falls firmly on the side of the CIA. It shows what it's allowed to show, but keeps their secrets ("undisclosed location" and all that); and it portrays the operatives as the honourable front-liners getting their hands dirty (but not bloody), beyond moral reproach by virtue of hard graft. In Bigelow's world, it's the suits in Washington who have the blood in their hands - they're disconnected, as evidenced when torture-specialist Dan (Jason Clarke) returns to US headquarters from the field and loses his nerve, becoming a man of soft probabilities.

Clarke is solid but lost amidst superior talent, as he was in John Hillcoat's recent Lawless. Jessica Chastain delivers a nuanced performance. Driven professionals in films often come across as stolid, but Chastain is an actor of subtlety - even if Bigelow can't help lensing her like a wind-swept movie star in the Middle Eastern magic light. Jennifer Ehle uses her moon-faced radiance to good effect, filling her eager operative Jessica with youthful energy. There's a fair amount of distracting spot-the-cameo going on, particularly toward the end, when Joel Edgerton, Mark Duplass and James Gandolfini turn up.

Bigelow's directorial talent is never in doubt. The final sequence in particular is harrowingly tense, even though we know the outcome. And she generally gets the best out of actors. But make no mistake: this is a deeply patriotic film which is cheering for the home team, and it does so under the guise of objectivity, which makes it more manipulative than flag-waving fare like Last Ounce of Courage or Act of Valor, albeit much more skilfully made.

It's not an action flick, it's a thriller. About a tough CIA-chick who has a hunch about a guy who might eventually lead them to Osama Bin Laden. It takes her almost 10 years, a little waterboarding, a couple of dead colleagues and a lot of arguing with her superiors, but she manages to follow the lead all the way to the now famous raid in Abbottabad.

It's a very captivating film (even with its 160 minutes runtime), and the big raid at the end is quite intense and realistic. That said, Bigelow's previous 'The Hurt Locker' was (even) better. But it's close!

As for the controversy whether the film is 'pro-torture propaganda' or not: it shows what (likely) happened. A very unpleasant sight for Americans, sure, but that's no reason to leave it out. Whether or not 'OBL' would've been caught without the use of torture is speculation that has no place in this movie (it's a depiction of events, not a moral study).

Some Americans might still find it hard to watch a movie that requires you to form your own opinion about the actions of your country/government/army, instead of getting one spoon fed by those very same institutions. But given the America's options in government- potential it seems a luxury Americans no longer have.

When I watch a movie, the last thing I would judge it on is Politics.

Also, it amazes me how personal people on here can become.

I thought it was a good movie.

The actors came across as credible.

It showed some of the ugly sides of war.

The story kept me alert.

It kept me awake.

It isn't perfect, however, which movie is? And at the end I felt fulfilled.

At the end, I guess you see what you want to see...