Zero Dark Thirty (2012)****/5: Good film from a technical standpoint but hardly evocative because there are a lot of missing links to this story about the manhunt for Bin Laden.

Zero Dark Thirty is one of the year’s best films but it is not a definitive one. The film is technically proficient but it does not evoke much that would give it a sense of distinctiveness apart from the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Everything is black and white in this film and while it is engrossing it seems more like a chronicle of the historical facts related to Bin laden’s capture rather than revealing the extent to which the hunt for Bin laden was a definitive one. One understands why the CIA is hunting for Bin Laden but never understand the spectre of this man and the thrall he holds over the US security service groups. If the film was not so biased in the hunt and were able to highlight the sway of Bin Laden throughout the Middle East the film would have been more definitive. When the marines eventually kill Osama I never got a sense as to why he was so important a target. The film should have made this element come to life apart from the brief montage at the beginning which tries to remind us of the pain Bin Laden cost many Americans on 9/11. Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal do not even show how they came to the conclusion that Bin Laden was the actual culprit behind the attacks. It is taken for granted regardless of the many conspiracy theories that claim that 9/11 was a contrived plot on the part of the US government or that Bin Laden died long before 2011. The film appears to be externalized with no inner structural dynamic of its own. The film does not address these many issues which would have made it truly great and a more accurate reflection as to why the US government is going after Bin Laden. The hunt for Bin Laden did not start with 9/11 so the manhunt was not necessarily a ten year procedure as the film claims. Bin laden had a very long love/hate affair with the US before he was killed.

This film is about the so called ten year hunt for Osama Bin Laden through the eyes of Maya (Jessica Chastain) that compiled the necessary material to have him brought down.

Positives

The best thing about this film is its sharp technical approach. The direction and editing is crisp and the film is engrossing in its own way as it chronicles the hunt for Bin Laden. The film highlights that the CIA intended to use the couriers as a gateway to finding Bin Laden. There are a lot of torture scenes en route to Bin Laden reflective of the Bush era which is then removed following the ascension of the petty bourgeois, Obama. There is no surprise about these torture scenes because America was never a saint. There is a whole history of torture used by American authorities towards foreigners as well as their own people and so I was not as horrified as some petty bourgeois idealists are. The film makes clear how it was possible for the investigation to be bogged down because of the ephemeral nature of the links to Bin Laden. It is good that the cell phone exists for without it the CIA would not have been able to trace Bin Laden to a compound in Pakistan. It is made clear in the film that even then the investigators and authorities were never sure that it was Bin Laden because if the Seals move in and do not find Bin Laden then it would be a political disaster for Obama.

They proceed to capture Bin Laden on the basis of their faith in Maya (Jessica Chastain), the CIA investigator who accumulates a significant amount of data on Bin Laden during her ten year search. The critics say that this is a good performance on the part of Jessica Chastain but I am not convinced. It is a  good performance but hardly mind blowing as she plays the role as accurate as it can be and even then you cannot be sure because it is not clear what makes her distinct from any other CIA operative. She gets shot at etc but there is nothing seemingly special about her apart from the fact that she is a woman who is a very determined. If the filmmakers wanted to bring forth her determination they have succeeded; another successful woman. She seems deprived of a social life which she seems to have given up pursuing Bin Laden. She also lost friends along the way. She cries at the end after Bin Laden is caught. It is supposed to be cathartic for the reasons just mentioned however that is not transmitted to the viewer. I felt nothing for her apart from her determination to catch Bin Laden which cost her a normal social life.  The performance from Chastain is understated here and it does work considering the environment she is in but maybe it is a little too understated to be significant. The character is best incorporated into the film as we watch her take over the investigation and gain the attention of her superiors.

The film also accurately portrays the hunt for Bin Laden through the one sided lens of the CIA.  This is good as a right wing chronicle of events and from the perspective of the CIA this film may be the definitive account of the hunt for Bin Laden. The film never questions their methods etc but highlights what it took to catch Bin Laden from their point of view. This will invite criticism from the other side but it will surely please conservative Americans who would want to know that the Government is there to protect and serve them. There is a funny scene which takes place midway the search where one of the supervisors in the CIA group harangues his team about the amount of money/tax payers’ dollars going into the operation with no results/targets for execution or arrest.  The glorious CIA did their work by catching Bin Laden. There is no one to question whether or not government funds are being wasted; catching Bin Laden was a good thing to secure bourgeois property.

Negatives

The film acts too much like a mere chronicle of the events surrounding Bin Laden’s capture. This attempt to chronicle the manhunt did not invite any views on human nature or the spectre of terrorism that will forever haunt Americans as they use their military to bulldoze tariff barriers. This chronicle does make the film appear proficient yet detached as if it is a mere history lesson. It seems to lack an internal dynamism of its own which would require some dramatic license. This film is in no way superior, as some critics claim, to The Hurt Locker which did it right emotionally. As a history lesson or a mere chronicle it tries to excuse the possibility of being analysed for it is clear that there is a lot we do not know regarding the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. The film claims erroneously that it was a ten year man hunt but Bin Laden was on the US most wanted list since the 1990s. Is it a ten year man hunt because Maya got involved?

As a chronicle, therefore, there are many missing links. Firstly, how was it discovered that Bin Laden was the culprit? Is this on the basis of video footage, where Bin Laden confesses, which many claim is dubious?  Was there another investigative process, before Maya got involved, that determined that it was Bin Laden apart from him claiming responsibility? What of the many conspiracies that claim that 9/11 was a government plot? What of bin Laden’s early relationship with the CIA? Why did the hunt for Bin Laden take priority only after 9/11? How does Bin Laden fit within the wider terrorist network of Al Qaeda? If you get Bin Laden would this bring an end to Al Qaeda? Is the US ready to claim responsibility for its role in birthing groups such as Al Qaeda? The conservatives would dismiss these questions as conspiracy theories but this is why we need an Oliver Stone as opposed to a Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow makes a film but not a definitive one for she does not address these issues which would make the hunt for Bin Laden after 9/11 fit within the broader picture. If she created the spectre of the man, who does not work alone for sure, then it would be more definitive. Why is he so powerful? The film does not highlight why Bin Laden becomes this great target for the US imperialists after his activities against the Soviets in the 1980s. How was Bin Laden originally hunted in the 1990s before the upgrade in military technology we see in the 2000s? This would take only a few minutes in the film where they would give a concise history lesson as to why Bin Laden  was revered and feared, throughout the world as well as why he is so hard to catch. The production team would also document his story and how he came to such prominence; only then would you feel as if you are tackling a true heavyweight as opposed to some ordinary terrorist or criminal. This would have made the film come alive from within however as the subject is missing then the movie simply limps along. Although Maya compiles the information we are not treated to a duel of wills which would increase tension and answer a lot of questions.  They do not even show his face at the end and so we are not sure it is him and this would only feed the so called conspirators out there. Bin Laden might have claimed responsibility but we will never know for sure how he did claim responsibility for the attacks or how he orchestrated the attacks. It is all assumptions and so we are still left to wonder and Maya’s crying does not help it only distracts from these questions.

This film exists in a vacuum because a significant chunk of history is missing and a lot of questions remain unanswered.