Zero Dark Thirty (2012)...... Hunt for Osama bin Laden.....

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2013)

"Zero Dark Thirty" chronicles the events that lead to the hunt of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the film runs like a full feature documentary that overlooks dramatization and becomes digressive most of the times, but by the end, the film is rewarding in terms that it remains truthful and is based on the first hand information (as the film claims). Perhaps it wasn't easy to chronicle the decade long hunt of Al Qaeda leader; so the film and the tactics in the beginning was a bit confusing and clumsy. The beginning shows few inhumanely tortures done on the detainees following terrorists attacks of 9/11. (We have the whole documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side" on this) But the final half an hour raid filmed is perhaps one of the best shots I've ever seen in movies and brings the essence of the film as zero dark thirty which stands for the military mission carried half past the midnight. In terms of historical importance, the film garners a lot of momentum and would be remembered much for the role of Jessica Chastain, as a CBI officer, who firmly pursues her hunt for Bin Laden after her reluctance in the beginning. The role doesn't parallel Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich or Jodie Foster from The Silence of the Lambs, but she carries the film in the end with a feeling of gratitude for her contribution to nation and its peace. Perhaps the film might be overwritten for its documentary feel, but personally, I feel it was the second best film nominated for Oscars this year after 'Argo."
Rating: 3 stars out of 4