- Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”
“Zero Dark Thirty,” Kathryn Bigelow’s powerful follow-up to 2009’s extraordinary “The Hurt Locker,” is a taut political dramatization of the CIA’s hunt for Osama Bin Laden. What works best about the film is journalist Mark Boal’s intense and dramatic script. Clocking in at 2 hours and 37 minutes, the film never bores or detours from its edge-of-the-seat style dramatics. Impressively, Boal gets a lot right about the events that transpired from the 2001 World Trade Center attack to Bin Laden’s 2011 death in his Abbottabad, Pakistan compound. Taking a journalistic approach for the film’s screenplay works on nearly every level. While it must be viewed as a work of fiction, its representation of publicly reported events is sound. The film’s portrayal of torture by CIA interrogators has received jeers from Washington, but that was to be expected. Simply put, the film would not have been as believable had torturous interrogation methods not been included in the screenplay. Were the depictions accurate? Maybe, but that’s not the point. Bigelow set out to make a provocative follow-up to her 2009 hit, and succeeded. While the film isn’t as magnetizing as “The Hurt Locker,” it boasts a better cast. Jessica Chastain plays CIA operative Maya with poise and impressive restraint. She has been nominated for best actress in a leading role at this year’s Academy Awards, and she stands a chance at outpacing frontrunner Jennifer Lawrence. With all of the publicity surrounding this film’s depiction of CIA interrogation, she will only gain momentum leading up to the award’s ceremony. Also impressive is Jennifer Ehle and Kyle Chandler who play fellow CIA operatives working back and forth from D.C. and the Middle East. All in all, “Zero Dark Thirty” is a visually stunning, groundbreaking picture that will stand up as a feat in quasi-journalistic storytelling for years to come. I won’t get into how Kathryn Bigelow was snubbed at the Oscar’s because it’s rubbish and makes me depressed. All she needs to know is that she made a great film–hopefully that’s reward enough. You can view the trailer here.
Grade: A-
Ryan at the Movies 