Zero Dark Thirty

In 2003, CIA officers Maya (Jessica Chastain) and Dan (Jason Clarke) interrogate a detainee in an effort to gather intelligence and thwart future terrorist attacks. The detainee identifies the previously unknown Abu Ahmed as Osama bin Laden’s trusted courier. Maya then spends the next several years trying to identify and track down Ahmed and, ultimately, bin Laden.

Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal scored a major hit with 2008’s The Hurt Locker, but this most recent dip into the well of Middle Eastern intrigue is a different type of beast. Originally conceived as the story of the CIA’s failure to find bin Laden, real life events necessitated a major reimagining. The results are a success, albeit a qualified one.

Throughout Zero Dark Thirty, several CIA characters drop the word tradecraft: skill in plying one’s trade. And while it is synonymous with espionage, it can also be applied to the film itself. Zero Dark Thirty is impressively shot in a gritty, realistic style. It isn’t always eye-pleasing – unless grainy video footage and shaky night vision are your thing – but it adds a considerable amount of verisimilitude.

The acting is similarly polished. Though her character takes on arguably too big a role (see below), Chastain imbues Maya with passion and strength. We see her evolve from relative novice to relentless crusader, galvanized by loss and, sadly, devoid of any other purpose in life. Her CIA compatriots, all too often portrayed on the screen as either needlessly obstructive bureaucrats or ruthlessly amoral rogues, depicted realistically and humanely here. We see Maya’s bosses (led by James Gandolfini as CIA Director Leon Panetta) grapple with difficult decisions in light of a changing political reality. Even Clarke’s somewhat bombastic character is given some depth: he’s torturing detainees one moment and feeding ice cream to pet monkeys the next.

Though they are well-portrayed, the characters are done a disservice by Boal’s script. In one scene, a CIA officer allows a known Al-Qaeda member to bypass security on a military base on the rumor that he will work as a mole. In another, a white character on a surveillance mission walks into the middle of a crowded Pakistani city after being warned that whites are unwelcome. And then there’s Maya. While it makes sense to have someone for the viewer to identify with for narrative purposes, one can’t help feel that she gets too much credit here, especially in light of how the men who actually killed bin Laden are deemphasized. We meet the Navy SEALs toward the end of the movie, and even then, they are shown to be a bunch of dubious, eccentric yokels who only demonstrate competence once the raid on the Abbottabad compound commences.

In addition, the film appears to be suffering from an identity crisis. Sometimes, it plays like a political drama, at other times, it plays like a police procedural, and by the end, it’s an action film. This schizophrenia extends itself to the film’s pacing as well. Zero Dark Thirty often lags and sputters along sluggishly, but when it does leap into action, it does so with the unyielding tension that made The Hurt Locker such an adrenaline rush. As a final aside, the extensive use of chapter headings may be designed to evoke a “nonfiction” feel, but they are distracting and unnecessary.

Since its release (and probably even before), Zero Dark Thirty has been assailed by some for compromising intelligence and by others for promoting torture. Both claims are groundless (it’s worth noting that the initial informant only gives information after he is treated civilly), and they distract from what is otherwise a worthwhile film. It may not be worthy of its numerous Oscar nominations, and it almost certainly could have been more tightly edited, but its frank depiction of intelligence work in a dangerous and rapidly changing world makes Zero Dark Thirty a memorable and commendable effort.

7.75/10