Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty (English)
May 2, 2011 - the day I vividly remember waking up to the news of Osama Bin Laden's death, apparently shot dead by a team of US Navy SEALs in a closed compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan. Here was a man who managed to strike the world's most powerful nation and shake its very foundations by spearheading a series of well-coordinated attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon resulting in almost 3000 civilian deaths. The incident not only changed USA's socio-economic landscape, but also unleashed its global war on terror, the military campaign led by NATO forces to eliminate al-Qaeda and other militant organizations in a series of onslaughts in Iraq, Somalia, Philippines and several other countries including Afghanistan, where the operation continues till today.
Bin Laden, who managed to evade capture for almost a decade, sparked the greatest manhunt in history (as the movie's tagline goes), and director Kathryn Bigelow, known for her acclaimed debut The Hurt Locker (on the Iraq war), gives a realistic and impartial take on the background specifics of the 10-year long search while saluting the indomitable spirit of a female CIA officer. Taken in that sense, it almost plays out like a gripping, taut docu-thriller.
I am not going into the details of the story, but here's something to start with. Zero Dark Thirty opens in September 2001 immediately after the 9/11 attacks and dramatizes the subsequent years of effort put by the intelligence agency in pursuing leads, interrogating and torturing suspects (the waterboarding scene is a tough watch!) at various 'black sites' before culminating in Operation Neptune Spear on the second of May.
With a total run time of close to 160 minutes, Bigelow's documentary thriller style lends it an aura of hyperrealism and is as relentless as Maya (Jessica Chastain), the determined CIA agent who wants Bin Laden tracked and killed even as the clues and leads hit a brick wall. Chastain's is an admirable performance worthy of all the accolades that she's been conferred and her breaking down in the final moments of the film all alone on a plane is simply terrific.
Given the intricacy and sensitivity of the subject, Bigelow's dispassionate direction and storytelling style keeps the audience on tenterhooks as the film races towards a heart-pounding climax. Zero Dark Thirty, referring to thirty minutes after midnight in military parlance, is a riveting watch and should be missed for no reason. Movies like Argo, Lincoln and ZDT - interestingly all based on true stories - are ample proof that good content is what drives great cinema. May the best one win the Oscars!
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| Zero Dark Thirty |
I am not going into the details of the story, but here's something to start with. Zero Dark Thirty opens in September 2001 immediately after the 9/11 attacks and dramatizes the subsequent years of effort put by the intelligence agency in pursuing leads, interrogating and torturing suspects (the waterboarding scene is a tough watch!) at various 'black sites' before culminating in Operation Neptune Spear on the second of May.
With a total run time of close to 160 minutes, Bigelow's documentary thriller style lends it an aura of hyperrealism and is as relentless as Maya (Jessica Chastain), the determined CIA agent who wants Bin Laden tracked and killed even as the clues and leads hit a brick wall. Chastain's is an admirable performance worthy of all the accolades that she's been conferred and her breaking down in the final moments of the film all alone on a plane is simply terrific.
Given the intricacy and sensitivity of the subject, Bigelow's dispassionate direction and storytelling style keeps the audience on tenterhooks as the film races towards a heart-pounding climax. Zero Dark Thirty, referring to thirty minutes after midnight in military parlance, is a riveting watch and should be missed for no reason. Movies like Argo, Lincoln and ZDT - interestingly all based on true stories - are ample proof that good content is what drives great cinema. May the best one win the Oscars!
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