Zero Dark Thirty

Here’s the hard-hitting truth: while there have been quite a few classics inspired by the Vietnam War (and yes, we are including Rambo: First Blood Part II on that list), the equally controversial War on Terror has spawned virtually no contenders worthy of going toe to toe with the impressive work churned out by Stone, Cimino and Coppola throughout the 70s and 80s.

But then again, no cocky empirical statement would be complete without the mention of an honourable exception, which in this case is Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, a remarkably well shot film that was bold enough to leave out the politics and focus instead on the psyche of a man who is more at home dismantling bombs than he is at picking out breakfast cereals for his son. Given the amount of acclaim bestowed on Bigelow for her work on Locker, there was never any doubt she was the right director for a film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Zero Dark Thirty is not an easy film to sit through. Apart from the fact that it is bum-achingly long and the characters speak in the kind of register that is bewildering to us non-CIA folk, it’s also unwilling to conform to the traditional conventions of characterization. What that means, essentially, is that in this film the “good guys” are often seen performing the kind of acts we usually associate with the villains, which admittedly makes it difficult for the audience to identify or sympathize with them. The film’s opening scene is unflinching in its depiction of the shockingly methodical torture a prisoner is put through during his interrogation – the fact that it comes at the hands of a likeable officer (Jason Clarke, a little known Australian actor deserving more roles) proves to be all the more disorienting.

Interestingly enough, there are odd moments of unexpected yet contextualised humour too. Jessica Chastain kicking back after a hard day’s work, sipping on a beer but with her burka still on is an amusing sight to behold, while another moment in which two female operatives message one another online like schoolgirls prior to a drop off feels pleasantly light-hearted, considering it precedes the tragic Camp Chapman attack.

Which brings us to the raid on Bin Laden’s hideout compound in Abbottabad, the film’s climax of which we inevitably know the outcome, yet somehow Bigelow manages to keep us gripped and guessing throughout. A combination of spooky night vision and eerie silence intermitted with rattling gunshots and deafening explosions, it’s already a contender for the year’s most thrilling action sequence, made all the more suspenseful every time a white-gowned individual is glimpsed darting behind the US Navy SEALs prowling the compound.      

Anchoring us into the whole proceedings is Jessica Chastain’s Maya. Allegedly based on a real life CIA operative who dedicated almost ten years of her life to locate the world’s most wanted man, we first meet her as a wincing novice during the afore-mentioned torture scene and watch her gradually evolve into a relentless, imperturbable woman who is not afraid to stand up to the male competition and zones in on her target like a shark. A bit like Zero Dark Thirty’s astute director, then.

4/5