Working Within Limits of Reality

Rating: 8/10 (7 January 2019)

Disclaimer: Bigelow had to work within certain limits, as Pakistan was not about to allow her to film the tale in Pesh, Rawalpindi, Islamabad or Abbottabad. Thus, one hears a lot more Arabic than Urdu. Poetic license.
The movie, about the hunt for and killing of Osama bin Laden, is fairly accurate in both telling the tale and conveying the manner in which intel work is carried out. Yes, it can be boring to an outsider or a movie-goer more accustomed to exploding vehicles and infallible superheroes. Real intel work often requires building on tiny bits and pieces of information, drawn from many sources, and often difficult to collate. Perhaps trying to depict that reality does not make for exciting film, but it is pretty darn close to reality.
Some critics argue that 'Maya', the main character, was one dimensional and never fully allowed to develop. Ironically, that is EXACTLY what the real 'Maya' was like, and by the way, she looks nothing like Jessica Chastain. There is some befuddlement that in the film (SPOILER?) she claims she 'was recruited out of high school'. She wasn't recruited, she joined. She was not an ops officer, which is what most people would consider the typical spy. She was a Targeter, which is an updated version of an employee who used to be called an 'IA' or Intel Assistant. Her function was to do name traces, provide support, and try to pull pieces together, which she would then feed to the ops officers who go out and recruit/meet clandestine assets.
Maya was obsessed, as the movie shows her to be. She was demanding, and to this day likes to think she alone got ObL, when as the movie shows to some extent, many people and many Directorates were involved over a period of years.
For those who might take a second look at the movie, look to the characters played by Jason Clarke as a pretty good representation of an ops officer, Kyle Chandler ('Bradley') as one kind of Chief of Station, and Edgar Ramirez ('Larry') as a good rep of a Ground Branch type in the Special Activities Center of the DDO.
Many may not find this the most exciting film, but if anyone is looking for insight into how real intel work is actually done, it's a good place to start.