Zero Dark Thirty is good, but be prepared for graphic torture scenes

Rating: 7/10 (8 April 2013)

I waited to watch this movie until it came out on DVD, so needless to say, I was very excited to watch it. I was pre-warned about some of the graphic torture scenes, but I don't think I was prepared for the first scene with the prisoner who was hung from the ceiling by his arms and verbally, physically abused. This film, however, generated a very relevant discussion about government, military power during war or other emergency situations. I really thought a lot about whether the government has/should have the power to detain anyone it feels has knowledge of a certain event that affects public safety. On the one hand, yes if it protected hundreds/thousands of citizens, but on the other hand, what if that individual really had no knowledge of the subject of the questioning? This is a very tricky balance.
The scene where one of the main CIA agents planned a meet-up with a known terrorist associate at the CIA compound was very powerful for me. This female agent invited a well-connected man into the compound with minimum security to encourage discussion and keep the lines of communication open; she felt that this man had information that would be helpful in preventing terrorist attacks. But, the man arrived strapped with a suicide bomb and blew up himself and the others involved, including this female agent. This made me stop and think that maybe peaceful negotiation is not always the way to address these terroristic type problems. Here, people were killed trying to protect my freedom and relying in good faith on the idea that this man was coming to help out/offer information.
In the end, whether to use tactics that may require some socially unacceptable mediums, such as waterboarding, or to open our arms wide to communication with unstable people is a tough discussion to have. But, nevertheless, is a conversation that needs to happen.