#6: Zero Dark Thirty
Why this should be higher:
Meticulous is the best word to describe Zero Dark Thirty. The characters spend a decade poring over every scrap of evidence that might even tangentially connect to their target. Key breakthroughs come from cross-referencing data from years earlier. And director Kathryn Bigelow crafts an exceedingly impressive and precise film, drawing together moments and characters spanning years and continents. Even her action/thriller sequences are shot with a striking sense of clarity and space; the concluding raid on Osama's Abbottabad home stands out as an impeccable sequence shot essentially in real-time.
The true strength of Zero Dark Thirty, however, is in its cold look at the moral quagmire surrounding the CIA's actions. Much has been made of the depiction torture in the film, with many decrying ZDT as both supporting its use and implying it was instrumental in finding bin Laden. In truth, whether such "enhanced interrogation" was a boon or hindrance is mostly left ambiguous; in later scenes CIA officers loudly bemoan their previous use of torture, but their ire is directed just as much at the increased oversight burdening them post-Abu Ghraib than at the practice itself. Instead, the position Bigelow adopts is more clinical and removed, presenting he choices and compromises America has made in the War on Terror plainly and bluntly and forcing the audience to consider whether such sacrifices are an acceptable price to pay.
Why it isn't:
Jessica Chastain gives a strong performance as Maya, the CIA officer at the heart of the operation (Maya being an amalgam of several real life operatives). But she's completely walled-off from the audience: we are never given a sense of her backstory, family, long-term goals, or even her full name. The one time it looks like we might get to see Maya interact outside of an office environment the scene is hijacked by the Mumbai bombings rather than character development. She is less a character than a cypher. Furthermore, in covering eight years of the hunt for Osama, ZDT runs into the problem that in many of these years nothing occurred except for a mounting sense of frustration.The first and last half-hours of the film are outstanding, but showing the breadth of the operation and all the false leads and dead ends that entails makes the film frequently loses steam.
Of course my biggest reservation about ZDT strikes more at the core of the film: what exactly is the message it is trying to convey? Between the torture, frequent mentions that al Queda's operations are continuing independently of Osama's leadership, and the mental and physical toll the hunt takes on Maya and her fellow operatives, the movie seems to argue that the whole operation wasn't worth the cost and that even success won't result in real change. While talking to a friend about why I'm colder to this film than most critics, he pointed out that Zero Dark Thirty was in production before Osama's death. Viewed in this light, it is far easier to argue that lack of closure is meant to be the main theme of the film; when they were first envisioning the project it was without a definitive conclusion.
But real life then intervened to give them an ending, one that works to the film's detriment. As mentioned above, the Abbottabad raid is tense, visceral, and wonderfully shot. It also, however, stands as a visual example of military efficiency and competence. As a result, the film's message becomes undercut significantly. ZDT's first two hours may filled with moral compromises, painful casualties, and a growing question of whether the hunt is worth the toll it's taking, but audiences leave the theater having just witnessed thirty minutes of thrilling action in which all objectives were met and no casualties incurred. The film ends on a note of accomplishment, and in the process muddies its own argument.
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| Great scene. Wrong movie. |
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