Zero Dark Thirty: Movie Review

Zero Dark Thirty is worth seeing.  It’s good movie-making. And it will make you look at the issue of torture in a post 9/11 world.

I’ll riff on torture in another post.

Here are my take-aways from the film.

• Jessica Chastain proves again she is becoming the next Meryl Streep.
• The film follows closely what happened during the hours of the bin Laden kill.  Read No Easy Day: No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer.
• The torture scenes are uncomfortable in the film.  I mention it since it is powerful movie-making, but I also say it as a heads-up for parents.
• We don’t really know if torture led to bin Laden.  The movie says that it does; the official CIA line says it doesn’t.
• The film makes us realize that torture degrades the torturers too.  The two main characters, while diligently using torture, were also affected by it.

Bottom line: you should see the film if you want an opinion or say on what we as a country is doing to protect ourselves and how we’re seen by other countries.

Your turn.

Tagged as: bias in media examples, Informed Not Inflamed film review, Jessica Chastain, John Daly NECN, Obama assassination, Zero Dark Thirty