Taxi To The Revisionist Side

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2013)

So let's deal with the torture first, because that seems to be what everyone is talking about. The scenes depicted in this movie should not be shocking to anyone who has been watching the news for the past 8 years. If anything they are quite mild compared to what you might see in an average episode of "Criminal Minds". What some have found shocking is the claim that it was torture that "found" Osama. Again, this has been in the news for over a year now - but there are things to consider -
a) Kathryn Bigelow's movie is based upon the CIA version of events so take from that what you like. b) The US has been more successful in taking out al Qaeda targets after torture was removed as an option than it was under Bush/Cheney. (Google it if you don't believe me). c) We see a successful interrogation at Bagram. We don't see any interrogations of innocent dudes who also ended up tied to the ceiling there (see documentary "Taxi To The Dark Side").
So my feeling is, if you go in accepting the movie as unexpurgated truth, you're a bit daft. But then I'd say that about all movies anyway. Moving on.
As drama, it is semi-successful. The issue here is that the subject matter is pretty dry for the first 3/4 of the story. People mostly sit in rooms discussing leads, politics and techniques. In an attempt to humanise the story and draw us in, we are given the character of Maya to follow. She's a young CIA agent who becomes obsessed with finding Abu Ahmed, Bin Laden's courier. But is he still alive? Does he even exist? He's so shadowy her superiors think not and we follow her frustration over the years as other leads are followed to no avail.
I think the reason this part of the movie felt a bit dry to me was that essentially it was covering documentary territory and the character of Maya is so one-note (driven and dedicated) that it's hard to find an emotional foothold in the film.
Compare it to the more emotive "Argo" and it's nowhere near as compelling. But then we reach the last act. The assault on Osama's compound. It's brilliantly staged and, given that we know how it ends, incredibly tense. The whole audience was holding their breath the whole way.
So I was glad I saw "Zero Dark Thirty". It is a good film and worth seeing. Is it "Best Film Oscar" material? I think so - but for me "Argo" & "The Sessions" are much more satisfying films.