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Zero Dark Thirty
Jan. 14th, 2013 10:34 amOver the weekend, I went to see Zero Dark Thirty, the Academy-Award-nominated movie about the hunt to find and kill Bin Laden. I highly recommend it.
The movie opens with audio from people stuck in the World Trade Center during the attack playing over a black screen. The first "full" scene is the torture of a detainee by CIA operatives at a black site. It's not clear at first, but they are trying to find out when an attack in Saudi Arabia is about to happen. Jessica Chastain's character is fresh off of the plane from the US, and although obviously repulsed, jumps in to help with the waterboarding. As her character progresses, she gets much more comfortable with torture.
For the rest of the movie we closely track Jessica's character "Maya" and she is in nearly every scene. It's clear to me at least that the producers were of the opinion that the CIA thought torture was critical to finding Bin Laden. Just for the record - whether or not the CIA needed torture to find Bin Laden, using torture is wrong. It's also clear that the people doing the torture knew they were in the wrong - there's a line in the movie to the effect of "you don't want to be the guy holding the dog collar when the oversight committee comes by."
Also celebrated in the movie is "HUMINT" or "human intelligence." For example, Bin Laden's courier is tracked by having a bunch of local Pakistanis stand on the side of the main road and call in every time they see the courier's car go by. Gee-whiz gadgetry plays a supporting role. The whole movie is gritty and as realistic as possible. Maya is involved in two terrorist attacks, and both of them happen with no warning or even a change of background music.
I have to say, both from the movie and other information, that I don't quite understand one part of Bin Laden's thinking. He hides himself in a secure building, but seems to have no plan for defending the place. A helicopter crashes in the man's back yard, for Pete's sake, and there is no real attempt at an armed response. The man's kids are in the house, and there is no effort to move them or Bin Laden to a defensible position. He just waited around to be shot.
At any rate, a thoughtful movie, highly recommended.
The movie opens with audio from people stuck in the World Trade Center during the attack playing over a black screen. The first "full" scene is the torture of a detainee by CIA operatives at a black site. It's not clear at first, but they are trying to find out when an attack in Saudi Arabia is about to happen. Jessica Chastain's character is fresh off of the plane from the US, and although obviously repulsed, jumps in to help with the waterboarding. As her character progresses, she gets much more comfortable with torture.
For the rest of the movie we closely track Jessica's character "Maya" and she is in nearly every scene. It's clear to me at least that the producers were of the opinion that the CIA thought torture was critical to finding Bin Laden. Just for the record - whether or not the CIA needed torture to find Bin Laden, using torture is wrong. It's also clear that the people doing the torture knew they were in the wrong - there's a line in the movie to the effect of "you don't want to be the guy holding the dog collar when the oversight committee comes by."
Also celebrated in the movie is "HUMINT" or "human intelligence." For example, Bin Laden's courier is tracked by having a bunch of local Pakistanis stand on the side of the main road and call in every time they see the courier's car go by. Gee-whiz gadgetry plays a supporting role. The whole movie is gritty and as realistic as possible. Maya is involved in two terrorist attacks, and both of them happen with no warning or even a change of background music.
I have to say, both from the movie and other information, that I don't quite understand one part of Bin Laden's thinking. He hides himself in a secure building, but seems to have no plan for defending the place. A helicopter crashes in the man's back yard, for Pete's sake, and there is no real attempt at an armed response. The man's kids are in the house, and there is no effort to move them or Bin Laden to a defensible position. He just waited around to be shot.
At any rate, a thoughtful movie, highly recommended.
