Zero Dark Thirty [DVD] [2012]

Zero Dark Thirty (Blu-ray + UV Copy) [2012] [Region Free ] You would have to be very naive to believe all the information coming from the capture of people associated with Osama Bin Laden was obtained in the manner of ---tell us all you know and thank you for the information. This film centers on the somewhat brutal techniques of information extraction after 911 in order to get worthwhile results that can limit the spread of further terror atrocities that can bring such devastating results as the London bus bombing and the Marriott hotel truck bombing. If you are not prepared for the realism and brutality of these techniques then don't watch the film, there is no easy way of doing a job like this and if you pussy foot around the results are not going to be forthcoming and more atrocity's will follow. This film has a very hard edge to it as I expected and is gripping in it's telling.

The Plot. The search for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden seen from the point of view and experiences of Maya (Jessica Chastain), a CIA intelligence analyst who became fanatical in her job of tracking down bin Laden ---- shades of Carrie in 'Homeland' methinks, a series that I found riveting and this film is 2 hours 31 minutes of military and intelligence procedural that needs full attention to keep abreast of the chase, but isn't quite as compelling as the tv series in my view.Bin Laden could have hid in a cave (most people thought he WAS hiding in a cave in the Afghan mountains) as there was such a world wide manhunt for him after 9 / 11 and a huge bounty on his head. But you can't conduct operations without technology so he lived hidden in plain sight in a house with electricity and internet connections. His only flaw was personal contact and in his case a courier that could pass hand written or verbal messages.So find that contact and you will find your target which is what intelligence sources do every day all over the world with lesser terrorists, put simply. I'm reminded of the great classic 'Day of the Jackal' from the 1960's which was far more compelling but in essence was a forensic manhunt.The controversy in the film is the torture used on contacts of bin Laden until the direct link was found, almost ten years after 9 / 11. Graphically shown, director Kathryn Bigelow is never averse to including acute violence in her films and there are some uncomfortable scenes of torture, and later in the film in a brief firefight.Commanding performance from Jessica Chastain who is at the centre of almost every scene. Not always pretty to look at but so effective in the context of a dedicated officer singular in purpose. Small but effective roles for Brits Mark Strong and Stephen Dillane, and James Gandolfini breezes in and out of a couple of scenes playing a 'real' person Leon Panetta, CIA Director.The only fault that I found in the production was the final 30 minutes or so of the attack by Special Forces : for realism it was very dark (hence the title of the film 30 minutes after the dark midnight hour). Tried my disc on another player and those scenes were still uncomfortably dark for the most part except when the night vision cameras were used intermittently. But that's Ms Bigalow who is known for using specialist cameras in her films. I guess that perhaps some resolution was lost when transferred to DVD format ?English language and subtitles. Based on actual events (as if we'd know), absorbing production but far from pretty quite rightly.

Zero Dark Thirty chronicles the decade-long hunt for bin Laden with profound neutrality. Darkness. A blank screen echoes the desperate screams and howls of innocent civilians telephoning their loved ones before the World Trade Centre crumbled over them. 2,977 fatalities. Over 25,000 injuries. “9/11”, at the hands of Islamic fundamentalist group al-Qaeda, became the “deadliest terrorist attack in human history”. The Bush administration swiftly launching the “War on Terror” to depose the Taliban, after the proposed extradition of leader Osama bin Laden floundered. Future terrorist attacks were imminent, with the CIA employing controversial systematic torture programs known as “enhanced interrogation techniques” to extract information from detainees in undisclosed black sites. Maya, a fictional CIA analyst tasked in locating bin Laden, soon becomes obsessed with potential lead Abu Ahmed that rapidly sends her down a monomaniacal path of danger, with growing pressure to save thousands of lives in the process.Bigelow’s thrilling decade-long depiction of events, in what is claimed as the “greatest manhunt in history”, can only be described as uncompromising scintillating cinema at its most raw. The extremist behaviour of Islamic Group members have been widely reported, detailed and sensationalised by the media for countless years. “7/7” bombings in London. The Camp Chapman attack. The 2008 Mumbai attacks. All co-ordinated actions that drew widespread condemnation. However, dramatising these profound events to stir further hatred for extremist behaviour and imply celebratory national patriotism, are not functionalities for Boal’s succinct screenplay. Both Bigelow and Boal, whom collaborated on ‘The Hurt Locker’, utilise modern history to insight political critique upon the questionable actions of the Bush administration and malevolence of al-Qaeda.A proliferate narrative neutrality that produced an unyielding barrier of risk, querying the legitimacy of bin Laden’s assassination and the gruelling process leading up to that pivotal raid. In the process, supplying sensitive philosophers and cowardly politicians with enough controversial ammunition to fire allegations from every direction. Supposed partisanship with the Obama administration, improper access to classified documents and pro-torture portrayal (more on that later...). These assertions are just that. Allegations. Because Zero Dark Thirty is a stark reminder of how ambivalent America’s contribution to this war was, and that undoubtedly irked “experts” and officials.Putting aside the historical politics for one moment, the essence of Bigelow’s intellectual assertion comes in the form of Maya. A lone female operative shrouded in the masculinity of warfare. Her tenacity and tough-minded persona undeniably receives the most acute character development arcs ever written, acting as an independent pressured employee expending her entire career in chasing bin Laden and a conduit for the narrative’s neutrality. Her initial reserved attitude towards approved “enhanced interrogation” allows viewers to question the permissibility of such authoritative techniques. Then she becomes obsessed, gradually succumbing to the ferocity of her work. Weeks, months, years. A decade passes. The pressure breaking her meticulous persona down, utilising any and all methods in finding bin Laden. Yet Maya combats the systematic ideologies of the CIA consistently to grant her fictionalisation a required neutrality that issues humanity. Chastain’s exceptional performance is littered with nuanced emotive details that gingerly bestow a provocative rage. Commanding, intimidating and menial. Chastain fluctuates her power from quaint whispers to enraged shouts, yet never lets her guard down. Until the final scene. A scene that profoundly reflected the morality and ethicality of all the preceding events that happened over the decade-long manhunt. The first and only moment where Maya exerts emotional fragility. A cluster of overwhelming feelings. Relief. Disappointment. Melancholy. Maya is the representation of the entire Iraq war from an emotional standpoint, and her culminating frame of film is perfect.Bigelow, alongside Fraser’s clinically bleak cinematography, explores the dark side of war. Bolstered by a commendable supporting cast whom exude professional urgency to the matter at hand. From the desolate anticipation of the Camp Chapman attack, to the night-vision filtered compound raid of Operation Neptune Spear. Zero Dark Thirty never dissipates its tension and technical astuteness, despite the chapter segregation that does regrettably disjoint the elongated runtime.Now, the torture interrogations. Waterboarding in particular. Famously generating a mass amount of controversy for its propagandistic nature and pro-torture stance. Makes you wonder why it conjured so much attention in the first place. To add on Bigelow’s response, it is a part of history. It shouldn’t have been, but it was. Consequently these government approved techniques should not be ignored regardless if it lead to bin Laden’s location or not, and it absolutely does question the morality behind such actions. Maya’s inclusion complying with that thought-process entirely. It categorically does not normalise torture, nor does its involvement endorse such issues. It simply provides exposure, arguably creating a statement against torture by implying the antagonistic behaviours of CIA agents.There’s a reason why Zero Dark Thirty was marred with controversy. There’s a reason why Zero Dark Thirty pursues a neutral narrative. It raises a fundamental question. “Was the death of bin Laden worth the price we paid?”. By showing the unspeakable, unflinching and the uncompromising, Bigelow audaciously challenges on an intellectual scale by using modern warfare as her weapon of choice. Producing a near-perfect film in the process.

After following leads from couriers sometimes using brutal techniques, the CIA come to realise that OBL is holed up in a house in Pakistan.We will never truly know which of techniques portrayed in the film that helped the CIA reach the conclusion were actually used. The film however, does resemble a documentary and is not a typical Hollywood portrayal.I remember the news story at the time showing President Obama listening in and viewing the operation.It took effort and guts to eliminate this mass murderer and not to mention the sensitivity of the incursion into Pakistan.There is no great euphoria on completion of the mission portrayed in the film, more like relief that the job was done and a sadness that such a job ever had to be necessary.