Severe Misrepresentation

Rating: 3/10 (15 April 2013)

Mark Boal's and Kathryn Bigelow's groundbreaking film Zero Dark Thirty about the hunt and subsequent elimination of Osama bin Laden did not live up to hype that was associated with the release of the film. Due to the lack of overall coverage of all of the events which culminated in the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark Thirty did not fully document the widest ranging manhunt in human history, in that the film ignored the President's role in decision making the raid happen, and the intense training and physical sacrifice that the SEALs underwent to prepare for the raid itself.
One major problem with Zero Dark Thirty was the lack of coverage of the SEAL team that took part in the raid on bin Laden's compound. As documented by Mark Owen, a SEAL who participated in the raid on bin Laden's compound, the SEAL team trained for weeks on a mockup of the compound built to serve as a training model for the SEALs. None of this training was documented in Zero Dark Thirty, in fact, the only two times that the SEAL team appears on screen is when Maya briefs the team on the compound and its occupants and when the team goes on the raid. This lack of portrayal of the SEALs is a blatant insult to the sacrifice that these men made to go on this raid and succeed.
Another problem with Zero Dark Thirty is that the decision made by the President to raid the compound was not shown on screen. It seemed as though in the film the decision came out of the middle of nowhere, when in reality the President alone had the power to send the SEALs into Pakistan to eliminate Osama bin Laden. This downplay of the President's role insults him, just as the SEALs role was insulted because of their prominent roles in the hunt were basically ignored by the film makers.
Zero Dark Thirty ignores many pivotal people who made enormous sacrifices and risky decisions which made the raid on bin Laden's compound possible. The ignoring of these people and their roles in the hunt for bin Laden makes this movie an appalling portrayal of the hunt for bin Laden, one which in unsuitable to considered proper filmmaking.