Boring and self-serving

Rating: 5/10 (16 April 2013)

Imagine the Da Vince Code without two generations of conspiracy theorists nourishing our fears that things aren't what they seem to be, or imagine a WWII movie without the subtext of moral outrage at Pearl Harbour or Auschwitz. Without the desire for payback and closure for 9-11, this movie is shallow and conventional. It cheats by hitting all the right moral triggers: Evil Mastermind Osama Bin Laden, torture is bad but necessary to Protecting Our Freedoms (yes, in capitals; it's that kind of movie). But it's not a gung ho John Wayne's Green Beret style movie. We're way too cynical for that. Director Bigelow gives a knowing wink to the audience that we're beyond old fashioned and simple minded patriotism; we get gratuitous scenes in which women and high ranking officials like Leon Panetta/James Gandolfini swear like troopers, or women talk about sex as a relaxing distraction from the job, or the head torturer saying that he's had enough not because of moral doubts but because he's seen too many naked guys: We Edgy Now. Once everybody agrees that we're hip, cynical and patriotic, all we get is a conventional Cowboys and Indians movie: the bad guys are really bad, but we're still good because our doubts about our methods (waterboarding) prove we're still on the moral high ground. The fact is that this is a boring movie underneath the documentation of all the slick CIA procedures and technology: a maverick (Chastain) insists she is right all along, and convinces her superiors by sheer strength of will that Osama is hiding out in a city and not in the mountains. The movie highlights guts, intuition, determination, and even insight, but Maya/Chastain has no real facts on which to hang her case. So, we have a gung-ho, me against the world movie that is carried by cheap Hollywood contrivances: the loner, the maverick, the hunch-player, the High Plains Drifter, and a woman to boot, so her one dimensional obsession is morally unassailable in today's political climate. Here, the outraged Chastain/Maya had the advantage, because we all know she was right all along. All the buzz is about the use of torture, payback and closure for 9-11, and a voyeuristic fascination with the SEAL team that took down Osama. It's not about the movie, which didn't deserve its nominations, hype and ticket sales. I'm not taking a pro- or anti-US position here; all I want is a better movie.