Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty


While many others may see Zero Dark Thirty as something of a glorified celebration of killing Osama, I thought it was a good film in exposing the pointless nihilism of the war on terror. In the end, it's really the best lesson you can learn from it.Though I know for damn well that what I took away from the film was not the same thing others did.

I hear people talk about how it's so riveting and suspenseful - even though we all know how it ends, you know, with the death of that old CIA agent... In any case, I do think that the best way to look at it is to wonder if after all the money spent and the man power wasted and deaths on its plate, was it all worth it?

The film is very much framed through the use of a high-profile terrorist attacks - so it begins with a phone call from a woman in the twin towers after the attacks - at which point you should just accept the fact that this will pander to the American audience and pull on those heart strings.

But throughout the film we see the London bombings, an attack in Saudi Arabai, the Marriot bombing, the camp Chapman attack and so on, but the only American response we see is the final assault on Bin Laden's compound and I would argue that this reinforces the whole "America as victim" narrative that we don't really need.

They show you this huge and very long torture scene and the rest of the film we're told that they can no longer do that and how much easier it would be if they could. Seems like they just swept that whole aspect under the rug. Not more so than not ever touching on anything about drone attacks or bombings that we constantly do on their soil.

In the end I just thought the Hurt Locker was a lot better made and the point is there. This film just seems to bypass a lot of the WHY as to what is happening on screen.