ZERO DARK THIRTY and the Ultimate Manhunt

Rating: 9/10 (10 March 2013)

Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal garnered Oscars for their war film The Hurt Locker a few years ago. While planning a film on the fruitless hunt for Al Queda leader, Osama Bin Laden, the fugitive was eventually tracked down and killed after a decade. The filmmakers subsequently expanded their film, gathered from several first-hand accounts, and the result is Zero Dark Thirty, a thoroughly detailed, complex study in the greatest manhunt in recent history. It is a fascinating study in the tedious work of the behind-the-scenes faceless men and women whose intelligence gathering efforts and in some cases obsessive determination culminate in the most stunning of missions.
As audio of frantic, desperate victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center plays in the background, we flash forward a couple of years to the Middle East and a torture scene of an Arab prisoner witnessed by newly transplanted CIA operative, Maya (Jessica Chastain), whose intelligence is matched by her sharp tongue and dogged stubbornness. As part of a group of operatives sifting clues and leads to locate terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden, she comes into conflict with traditional, out of date methodologies. Her theory centers on a courier who could be the link to their target, but to identify, locate and follow this suspect proves confounding and fruitless over the years as other hopeful leads fail to pan out or prove deadly. More terrorist attacks occur globally and there is a greater sense of urgency when Maya stumbles upon a crucial, misplaced piece of information. A remarkable series of interviews in remote, secret locations and painstaking surveillance result in a possible hideout. The question is whether to take the chance of launching a strike mission based on imperfect, yet probable data and plain, gut feelings. What follows is a minute by minute recreation of the subsequent, military mission to end all missions.
The infamous torture scenes are not so much violent as unbearable and uncomfortable. To center on these scenes misses the point of the film. While the story could have left out the bulk of these moments, they only serve to illustrate one of the means of collecting hard intelligence. The film also shows the toll these acts take on the human psyche of some of the interrogators.
Chastain's character is quite the rebellious analyst who is unafraid to speak her mind or display emotion. What we don't know is her background or her family or friends. This rough sketch of a character may serve this story adequately, but it denies the audience of more textured character development and audience empathy. She has a deep resolve that will keep her searching for years and endless interviews often in disguise to protect her identity as she herself becomes a target, looking for the one misstep or inadvertent mention of a name or detail. She even challenges and stands up to her superiors including the Director of the CIA (played with great effect by James Gandolfini) because of her self belief. Hers is a female operating in essentially a male dominated profession much as Jodie Foster proves herself in similar environs in Silence of the Lambs.
Bigelow excels with this intense, intricate screenplay. She is in her element during the last half hour of the film (where there is effective use of a minimal musical score and eerie, night vision camera work) as the stealth helicopters proceed to their target and she flexes her filmic muscles, which she does as well as any action director. John Milius (The Wind and the Lion) would be proud.
As a chronicle of the remarkable mosaic of intelligence work, Zero Dark Thirty is excellent. If it lacks a little heart and soul, that's not the fault of the filmmakers so much as the source material. While it could have easily been a thorough miniseries on television, it has been distilled to a highly engaging tale of good old fashioned detective work of the highest order. When Maya reacts to the mission's completion at the end, it is one of emotional release which the audience shares and could very well have been Bigelow's own reaction to a job thoroughly well done.