So that's why it took ten years

Rating: 6/10 (19 February 2013)

Originally meant to show the unsuccessful 10-year hunt for Osama bin Laden, Katherine Bigelow's film was hastily rewritten to include his execution. The rationale for this film, so soon after the event, was to explore the effects that history's greatest manhunt had on the woman who led the chase. That's what we were told. After watching two-thirds, you realise that actually this is – and I don't necessarily have a problem with it – a celebration of bin Laden's death.
That said, there's no overt triumphalism in the dramatisation. A good thing, too. This unique story in America's history has inherent significance, which any trace of Hollywood jingoism would cheapen.
Jessica Chastain assumes the daunting lead character Maya, the CIA op who pursued 'UBL' (the US gives cool nicknames even to its enemies) when everyone else lost faith. There are dangers in being too true to your character. It's a very reserved performance. I didn't notice much acting, and I suspect it is the character, not the characterisation, which is drawing attention.
ZDT deals with the same subject matter as Bigelow's directly previous film, The Hurt Locker. But whilst THL took place in the field, where Jeremy Renner was intrepidly disabling bombs as we prayed for him not to explode, ZDT takes place mostly in CIA 'black site' locations, makeshift offices and soulless boardrooms.
Flashing through key milestones in the hunt – meetings, interrogations, suicide bombings – the one insight you come away with is why it took the most advanced military nation in history 10 years to do the job. This mission wasn't a priority. Perhaps that's why there was such a small team with inadequate financing. Maya suggested dropping a bomb on the Pakistani compound despite their uncertainty that UBL was there, but the powers that be demurred due to changing politics.
The torture scenes – the big talking point – are underwhelming. The guy committing the waterboarding, played by Jason Clarke, is a hip young Doctor, uncomfortable in meting out pain but only does so as a last resort. 'If you lie, I hurt you' he tells a suspect, in a pleading not pleasure-seeking tone. The suggestion that showing them somehow condones the practice is absurd. These scenes are necessary for drama and realism.
Despite my overall disappointment, I felt the last half hour, a step-by-step re-enactment of the 12:30 a.m. attack, was the most palpably tense and suspenseful sequence I saw last year. And the sound was absolutely deafening. I'll be buying the DVD for that part alone.
Although never boring, ZDT is often draining. It is over-hyped and overrated, securing its box office success solely on the premise. But the award ceremonies, the ultimate judge, are giving the film the lukewarm reception it actually deserves.