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Zero Dark Thirty

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This article is about the film. For other uses, seeZero Dark Thirty (disambiguation).
Zero Dark Thirty
An obscured view depicting a helicopter hovering over Osama bin Landen's compound in Abbottabad.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKathryn Bigelow
Written byMark Boal
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyGreig Fraser
Edited by
Music byAlexandre Desplat
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • December 10, 2012(2012-12-10)(Los Angeles)
  • December 19, 2012(2012-12-19)(United States)
Running time
157 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40–52.5 million[2][4]
Box office$132.8 million[2]

Zero Dark Thirtyis a 2012 Americanhistorical dramathriller filmdirected and produced byKathryn Bigelow,and written and produced byMark Boal.The film dramatizes thenearly decade-long international manhuntforOsama bin Laden,leader of the terrorist networkAl-Qaeda,after theSeptember 11 attacks.This search leads to the discovery ofhis compound in Pakistanand the U.S.military raid where bin Laden was killedon May 2, 2011.

Jessica Chastainstars as Maya, a fictionalCIAintelligence analyst,withJason Clarke,Joel Edgerton,Reda Kateb,Mark Strong,James Gandolfini,Kyle Chandler,Stephen Dillane,Chris Pratt,Édgar Ramírez,Fares Fares,Jennifer Ehle,John Barrowman,Mark Duplass,Harold Perrineau,andFrank Grilloin supporting roles.[5][6]It was produced by Boal, Bigelow, andMegan Ellison,and independently financed by Ellison'sAnnapurna Pictures.The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 10, 2012, and had its wide release on January 11, 2013.[7]

Zero Dark Thirtyreceived critical acclaim for its acting, direction, screenplay, sound design, and editing, and was a major box office success, grossing $132 million worldwide. It appeared on 95 critics' top ten lists of 2012. It was also nominated in five categories at the85th Academy Awards:Best Picture,Best Actressfor Chastain,Best Original Screenplay,Best Film Editing,andBest Sound Editing,which it won in a tie withSkyfall.It earned fourGolden Globe Awardnominations, includingBest Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama)for Chastain, who won.

The film was accused of being pro-torturebyU.S. senatorsJohn McCain,Dianne FeinsteinandCarl Levin.

Plot[edit]

Maya is aCIAanalyst tasked with finding theal-QaedaleaderOsama bin Laden.In 2003, she is stationed at theU.S. embassy in Pakistan.She and CIA officer Dan Fuller attend theblack siteinterrogations ofAmmar(Reda Kateb), a detainee with suspected links to several of thehijackers in the September 11 attacksand who is subjected toapproved enhanced interrogation techniques.Ammar provides unreliable information on a suspected attack inSaudi Arabia,but reveals the name of the personal courier for bin Laden,Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.Other detainee intelligence connects courier traffic by Abu Ahmed betweenAbu Faraj al-Libbiand bin Laden. In 2005, Faraj denies knowing about a courier named Abu Ahmed; Maya interprets this as an attempt by Faraj to conceal the importance of Abu Ahmed.

In 2009, Maya's fellow officer and friend Jessica travels to a US base inAfghanistanto meet a Jordanian doctor, highly placed in al-Qaeda, who has offered to become a US spy for $25 million. Instead, he turns out to be atriple agentloyal to al-Qaeda, and Jessica is killed, along with several other CIA officers, when he detonates a suicide vest in what will come to be known as theCamp Chapman attack,the worst attack on CIA personnel in 25 years.

Thomas, an analyst who linked the Abu Ahmed lead, shares with Maya an interrogation of a Jordanian detainee claiming to have buried Abu Ahmed in 2001. Maya learns what the CIA was told five years earlier: Ibrahim Sayeed traveled under the name of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. Realizing her lead may be alive, Maya contacts Dan, now a senior officer at theCIA headquarters.She speculates that the CIA's photograph of Ahmed is that of his brother, Habeeb, who was killed in Afghanistan. Maya says that their beards and native clothes make the brothers look alike, explaining the account of Ahmed's "death" in 2001.

A Kuwaiti prince trades the phone number of Sayeed's mother to Dan for aLamborghiniGallardo Bicolore.Maya and her CIA team in Pakistan use electronic methods to eventually pinpoint a caller in a moving vehicle who exhibits behaviors that delay confirmation of his identity (which Maya callstradecraft,thus confirming that the subject is likely a senior courier). They track the vehicle to a large urban compound inAbbottabad,Pakistan. After gunmen attack Maya while she is in her vehicle, she is recalled to Washington, D.C. as her cover is believed blown.

The CIA puts the compound under surveillance but obtains no conclusive identification of bin Laden. The President'sNational Security Advisortasks the CIA with creating a plan to capture or kill bin Laden. Before briefing PresidentBarack Obama,the CIA director holds a meeting of his senior officers, who estimate that bin Laden is 60–80% likely to be in the compound. Maya, also in the meeting, places her confidence at 100%.

On May 2, 2011, the160th Special Operations Aviation Regimentflies twostealth helicoptersfrom Afghanistan into Pakistan with members ofDEVGRUand the CIA'sSpecial Activities Divisionto raid the compound. The SEALs gain entry and kill several people in the compound, including a man whom they believe is bin Laden. At a U.S. base inJalalabad,Afghanistan, Maya confirms the identity of the corpse.

She boards a military transport back to the U.S., the sole passenger. She is asked where she wants to go and begins to cry.

Cast[edit]

CIA

US Navy

Other

Production[edit]

Titles[edit]

The film's working title wasFor God and Country.[8]The titleZero Dark Thirtywas officially confirmed at the end of the film's teaser trailer.[9]Bigelow has explained that "it's a military term for early morning before dawn, and it refers also to the darkness and secrecy that cloaked the entire decade-long mission."[10]

Writing[edit]

Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal had initially worked on and finished a screenplay centered on the December 2001Battle of Tora Bora,and the long, unsuccessful efforts to find Osama bin Laden in the region. The two were about to begin filming when news broke that bin Laden had been killed.

They immediately shelved the film they had been working on and redirected their focus, essentially starting from scratch. "But a lot of the homework I'd done for the first script and a lot of the contacts I made, carried over," Boal remarked during an interview withEntertainment Weekly.He added, "The years I had spent talking to military and intelligence operators involved incounter-terrorismwas helpful in both projects. Some of the sourcing I had developed long, long ago continued to be helpful for this version. "[10]

Along with painstakingly recreating the historic night-vision raid on the Abbottabad compound, the script and the film stress the little-reported role of the tenacious young female CIA officer who tracked down Osama bin Laden. Screenwriter Boal said that while researching for the film, "I heard through the grapevine that women played a big role in the CIA in general and in this team. I heard that a woman was there on the night of the raid as one of the CIA's liaison officers on the ground – and that was the start of it." He then turned up stories about a young case officer who was recruited out of college, who had spent her entire career chasing bin Laden. Maya's tough-minded, monomaniacal persona, Boal said, is "based on a real person, but she also represents the work of a lot of other women."[11]In December 2014Jane MayerofThe New Yorkerwrote that "Maya" was modeled in part after CIA officerAlfreda Frances Bikowsky.[12]

Filming[edit]

Zero Dark Thirtyproducers built a real compound in Jordan, based on what they could learn (from diagrams and reporting) about the building where the CIA's pursuit ended. The production designer—Jeremy Hindle, who had never made a feature film before—was responsible for making the building as real as possible. The cinder blocks with which the building was made, for example, were distressed so that they didn't look new. Parts of the film were shot atPEC University of TechnologyinChandigarh,India.[13][14]Some parts of Chandigarh were designed to look likeLahoreandAbbottabadin Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was found and killed on May 2, 2011.[15]Parts of the film were shot inMani Majra.[16]Local members of right-wing parties protested, expressing anti-bin Laden and anti-Pakistan sentiments as they objected to Pakistani locations being portrayed on Indian soil.[17][18] For a lone scene shot inPoland,the city ofGdańskwas reportedly offended for depicting it as a location for the CIA's clandestine and dark operations.[19]

National security expertPeter Bergen,who reviewed an early cut of the film as an unpaid adviser, said at the time that the film's torture scenes "were overwrought". Boal said they were "toned down" in the final cut.[20]

Music[edit]

Main article:Zero Dark Thirty (soundtrack)

Alexandre Desplatcomposed and conducted the film's score.[21]The score, performed by theLondon Symphony Orchestra,was released as a soundtrack album byMadison Gate Recordson December 19, 2012.[22]

Release[edit]

Marketing[edit]

Electronic ArtspromotedZero Dark Thirtyin its video gameMedal of Honor: Warfighterby offering downloadable maps of locations depicted in the film. Additional maps for the game were made available on December 19, to coincide with the film's initial release. Electronic Arts donates $1 to nonprofit organizations that support veterans for eachZero Dark Thirtymap pack sold.[23]

Theatrical[edit]

The film premiered in Los Angeles on December 10, 2012.[24]It had a limited theatrical release in December 19, 2012, before expanding wide on January 11, 2013.

Home media[edit]

Zero Dark Thirtywas released on DVD[25]andBlu-ray Discon March 26, 2013.[26]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

Thelimited releaseofZero Dark Thirtygrossed $417,150 in the United States and Canada in only five theaters.[27]Awide releasefollowed on January 11.

Entertainment Weeklywrote, "The controversial Oscar contender easily topped the chart in its first weekend of wide release with $24.4 million."[28]Zero Dark Thirtygrossed $95,720,716 in the U.S. and Canada, along with $37,100,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $132,820,716.[2]It was the top-grossing film of its wide release premiere weekend.[29]

Critical response[edit]

Jessica Chastain's performance garnered widespread critical acclaim and she received her secondAcademy Award&BAFTAnomination and her thirdSAGnomination. She also received her firstGolden GlobeAwardfor her performance in this film.

OnRotten Tomatoesthe film has an approval rating of 91% based on 302 reviews, with an average rating of 8.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Gripping, suspenseful, and brilliantly crafted,Zero Dark Thirtydramatizes the hunt for Osama bin Laden with intelligence and an eye for detail. "[30]OnMetacriticthe film has a weighted average score of 95 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It was the site's best-reviewed film of 2012.[31]Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[32]

New York TimescriticManohla Dargis,who designated the film aNew York Timescritics' pick, said that the film "shows the dark side of that war. It shows the unspeakable and lets us decide if the death of Bin Laden was worth the price we paid."[33]

Richard Corliss's review inTimemagazine called it "a fine" movie and "a police procedural on the grand scale", saying it "blowsArgoout of the water ".[34]CallingZero Dark Thirty"a milestone in post-Sept. 11 cinema", criticA. O. ScottofThe New York Timeslisted the film at number six of the top 10 films of 2012.[35]

The New Yorkerfilm criticDavid Denbylauded the filmmakers for their approach. "The virtue ofZero Dark Thirty",wrote Denby," is that it pays close attention to the way life does work; it combines ruthlessness and humanity in a manner that is paradoxical and disconcerting yet satisfying as art. "But Denby faulted the filmmakers for getting lodged on the divide between fact and fiction.[36]

Roger Ebertof theChicago Sun-Timesgave the film three stars out of four.[37]He believed the "opening scenes are not great filmmaking", but Ebert thoughtZero Dark Thirtyeventually proved itself with the quiet determination of Chastain's performance and a gripping portrayal of the behind-the-scenes detail that led to bin Laden's death.

Top ten lists[edit]

Zero Dark Thirtywas listed on many critics' top ten lists. According to Metacritic the film appeared on 95 critics' top ten lists of 2012, 17 of which placed the film at No. 1.[38][39][40]

In 2016,Zero Dark Thirtywas voted the 57th greatest film to be released since 2000 in a critics' poll conducted by theBBC.[41]

Accolades[edit]

Main article:List of accolades received by Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirtywas nominated for fiveAcademy Awardsat the85th Academy Awards:Best Picture, Best Actress,Best Original Screenplay,Best Sound EditingandBest Film Editing.Paul N. J. Ottosson won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing, tying withSkyfall.This was only the sixth tie in Academy Awards history, and the first since 1994.Zero Dark Thirtywas nominated for fourGolden Globe Awardsat the70th Golden Globe Awards,includingBest Motion Picture – Drama,Best Director,Best Screenplay,withChastainwinningBest Actress – Motion Picture Drama.

TheWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association's award for Best Director was given to Bigelow, the second time the honor has gone to a woman (the first also being Bigelow forThe Hurt Locker). The film swept critics groups' awards for Best Director and Best Picture including the Washington D.C., New York Film Critics Online, Chicago and Boston film critics associations.[42]

Historical accuracy[edit]

Further information:Manhunt for Osama bin LadenandKilling of Osama bin Laden

Zero Dark Thirtyhas received criticism for historical inaccuracy. Former Assistant Secretary of DefenseGraham T. Allisonhas stated that the film is inaccurate in three important regards: the overstatement of the positive role of torture, the understatement of the role of the Obama administration, and the portrayal of the efforts as being driven by one agent battling against the CIA "system".[43]

Steve Collcriticized the early depictions in the film that portrayed it as "journalism" with the use ofcomposite characters.He took issue with the film's using the names of historical figures and details of their lives for characters, such as using details for "Ammar" to suggest that he wasAli Abdul Aziz Ali,whosenom de guerrewasAmmar al-Baluchi.Coll said the facts about him were different from what was portrayed in the film, which suggests the detainee will never leave theblack site.Al-Baluchi was transferred toGuantanamoin 2006 for a military tribunal.[44]

It was also criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of Pakistan as well as the inaccurate portrayal of Pakistani nationals speakingArabicinstead ofUrduand other regional languages, and locals wearing obsolete headgear.[45]

Controversies[edit]

Allegations of partisanship[edit]

Partisan political controversy related to the film arose before shooting began.[10]Opponents of theObama Administrationcharged thatZero Dark Thirtywas scheduled for an October release just before the Novemberpresidential electionto support his re-election.[46][47]Sony denied that politics was a factor in release scheduling and said the date was the best available spot for an action-thriller in a crowded lineup. The film's screenwriter added, "the president is not depicted in the movie. He's just not in the movie."[48]

The distributor Columbia Pictures, sensitive to political perceptions, considered rescheduling the film release for as late as early 2013. It set a limited-release date for December 19, 2012, well after the election and renderingmootany alleged political conflict.[8][49][50][51][52]The nationwide release date was pushed back to January 11, 2013, moving it out of the crowded Christmas period and closer to theAcademy Awards.[53]After the film's limited release, given the controversy related to the film's depiction of torture and its role in gaining critical information,The New York TimescolumnistFrank Bruniconcluded that the film is "a far, far cry from the rousing piece of pro-Obama propaganda that some conservatives feared it would be".[54]Two months later, the paper's columnistRoger Cohenwrote that the film was "a courageous work that is disturbing in the way that art should be". Cohen disagreed with Steve Coll's critique of the screenwriter's stated effort not to "play fast and loose with history", writing that "Boal has honored those words". Cohen ended with a note about aTimothy Garton Ashanalysis ofGeorge Orwellmixing fact and "invented" stories inDown and Out in Paris and London– as further support for Boal's method.[55]

Allegations of improper access to classified information[edit]

Several Republican sources charged the Obama Administration of improperly providing Bigelow and her team access to classified information during their research for the film. These charges, along with charges of other leaks to the media, became a prevalent election season talking point by conservatives. TheRepublicannational convention party platform even claimed Obama "has tolerated publicizing the details of the operation to kill the leader of Al Qaeda."[50]No release of these details has been proven according to theNavy Times.[56]

The Republican congressmanPeter T. Kingrequested that theCIAand theU.S. Defense Departmentinvestigate if classified information was inappropriately released; both departments said they would look into it.[57]The CIA responded to Congressman King writing, "the protection of national security equities – including the preservation of our ability to conduct effective counterterrorism operations – is the decisive factor in determining how the CIA engages with filmmakers and the media as a whole."[58]

The conservative watchdog groupJudicial Watchpublicized CIA and U.S. Defense Department documents obtained through aFreedom of Information Act(FOIA) request, and alleged that "unusual access to agency information" was granted to the filmmakers. An examination of the documents showed no evidence that classified information was leaked to the filmmakers. In addition, CIA records did not show any involvement by the White House in relation to the filmmakers.[8][50]The filmmakers have said they were not given access to classified details about Osama bin Laden's killing.[59]In 2012, Judicial Watch released an article stating the Obama Administration admitted that the information provided to the production team could pose an "unnecessary security and counterintelligence risk" if the information were to be released to the public. Judicial Watch also found emails containing information on five CIA and military operatives that were involved in the Bin Laden operations. These emails were provided to the filmmakers, as was later confirmed by the Obama Administration in a sworn declaration.[60]

In January 2013,Reutersreported that theUnited States Senate Select Committee on Intelligencewould review the contacts between the CIA and the filmmakers to find out whether Bigelow and Boal had inappropriate access to classified information.[61]In February, Reuters reported that the inquiry had been dropped.[62]

In June 2013, information was released in regards to an unreleasedU.S. Defense Department Inspector General's office report. It stated that in June 2011, while giving a speech at a CIA Headquarters event honoring the people involved in the Osama Bin Laden raid, CIA DirectorLeon Panettadisclosed information classified as "Secret" and "Top Secret" regarding personnel involved in the raid on the Bin Laden compound.[63]He identified the unit that conducted the raid as well as naming the ground commander that was in charge. Panetta also revealedDoDinformation during his speech that was classified as "Top Secret". Unknown to him, screenwriter Mark Boal was among the around 1300 present during the ceremony.[64]

Allegations of pro-torture stance[edit]

The film has been both criticized and praised for its handling of its subject matter, including the portrayal of the harsh "enhanced interrogation techniques",commonly classified as torture. The use of these techniques was long kept secret by theBush administration.(SeeTorture Memos,The Torture Report.)Glenn Greenwald,inThe Guardian,stated that the film takes a pro-torture stance, describing it as "pernicious propaganda" and stating that it "presents torture as its CIA proponents and administrators see it: as a dirty, ugly business that is necessary to protect America."[65]CriticFrank Bruniconcluded that the film appears to suggest "No waterboarding, no Bin Laden".[54]Jesse David Fox writes that the film "doesn't explicitly say that torture caught bin Laden, but in portraying torture as one part of the successful search, it can be read that way."[66]Emily Bazelonsaid, "The filmmakers didn't set out to be Bush-Cheney apologists", but "they adopted a close-to-the-ground point of view, and perhaps they're in denial about how far down the path to condoning torture this led them."[67]

JournalistMichael Wolffslammed the film as a "nasty piece of pulp and propaganda" and Bigelow as a "fetishist and sadist" for distorting history with a pro-torture viewpoint. Wolff disputed the efficacy of torture and the claim that it contributed to the discovery of bin Laden.[68]In an open letter, social critic and feministNaomi Wolfcriticized Bigelow for claiming the film was "part documentary" and speculated over the reasons for Bigelow's "amoral compromising" of film-making, suggesting that the more pro-military a film, the easier it is to acquire Pentagon support for scenes involving expensive, futuristic military equipment. Wolf likened Bigelow to the acclaimed director and propagandist for theNazi regimeLeni Riefenstahl,saying: "Like Riefenstahl, you are a great artist. But now you will be remembered forever as torture's handmaiden."[69]AuthorKaren J. Greenbergwrote that "Bigelow has bought in, hook, line, and sinker, to the ethos of the Bush administration and its apologists" and called the film "the perfect piece of propaganda, with all the appeal that naked brutality, fear, and revenge can bring".[70]Peter MaassofThe Atlanticsaid the film "represents a troubling new frontier of government-embedded filmmaking".[71]

Jane MayerofThe New Yorker,who has publishedThe Dark Side,a book about the use of torture during the Bush administration, criticized the film, saying that Bigelow was

milk[ing] the U.S. torture program for drama while sidestepping the political and ethical debate that it provoked... [By] excising the moral debate that raged over the interrogation program during the Bush years, the film also seems to accept almost without question that the CIA's 'enhanced interrogation techniques' played a key role in enabling the agency to identify the courier who unwittingly led them to bin Laden.[72]

AuthorGreg Mitchellwrote that "the film's depiction of torture helping to get bin Laden is muddled at best – but the overall impression by the end, for most viewers, probably will be: Yes, torture played an important (if not the key) role."[73]FilmmakerAlex Gibneycalled the film a "stylistic masterwork" but criticized the "irresponsible and inaccurate" depiction of torture, writing:

there is no cinematic evidence in the film thatEITsled to false information – lies that were swallowed whole because of the misplaced confidence in the efficacy of torture. Most students of this subject admit that torture can lead to the truth. But what Boal/Bigelow fail to show is how often the CIA deluded itself into believing that torture was a magic bullet, with disastrous results.[74]

PhilosopherSlavoj Žižek,in an article forThe Guardian,criticized what he perceived as a "normalization" of torture in the film, arguing that the mere neutrality on an issue many see as revolting is already a type of endorsementper se.Žižek proposed that if a similar film were made about a brutal rape or theHolocaust,such a movie would "embody a deeply immoral fascination with its topic, or it would count on the obscene neutrality of its style to engender dismay and horror in spectators." Žižek further panned Bigelow's stance of coldly presenting the issue in a rational manner, instead of being dogmatically rejected as a repulsive, unethical proposition.[75]

JournalistSteve Coll,who has written on foreign policy, national security and the bin Laden family, criticized the filmmakers for saying the film was "journalistic", which implies that it is based in fact. At the same time, they claimedartistic license,which he described "as an excuse for shoddy reporting about a subject as important as whether torture had a vital part in the search for bin Laden".[44]Coll wrote that "arguably, the film's degree of emphasis on torture's significance goes beyond what even the most die-hard defenders of the CIA interrogation regime... have argued", as he said it was shown as critical at several points.[44]

U.S. SenatorJohn McCain,who was tortured duringhis time as a prisoner of warinNorth Vietnam,said that the film left him sick – "because it's wrong". In a speech in the Senate, he said, "Not only did the use of enhanced interrogation techniques onKhalid Sheikh Mohammednot provide us with key leads on bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed, it actually produced false and misleading information. "[76]McCain and fellow senatorsDianne FeinsteinandCarl Levinsent a critical letter toMichael Lynton,chairman of the film's distributor, Sony Pictures Entertainment, stating, "[W]ith the release ofZero Dark Thirty,the filmmakers and your production studio are perpetuating the myth that torture is effective. You have a social and moral obligation to get the facts right. "[77]

Michael Morell,the CIA's acting director, sent a public letter on December 21, 2012, to the agency's employees, which said thatZero Dark Thirty

takes significant artistic license, while portraying itself as being historically accurate... [The film] creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding Bin Ladin. That impression is false.... [T]he truth is that multiple streams of intelligence led CIA analysts to conclude that Bin Ladin was hiding in Abbottabad. Some came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well. And, importantly, whether enhanced interrogation techniques were the only timely and effective way to obtain information from those detainees, as the film suggests, is a matter of debate that cannot and never will be definitively resolved.[78]

The Huffington PostwriterG. Roger Densoncountered this, saying that the filmmakers were being made scapegoats for information openly admitted by government and intelligence officials. Denson said thatLeon Panetta,three days after Osama bin Laden's death, seemed to say that waterboarding was a means of extracting reliable and crucial information in the hunt for bin Laden.[79]Denson noted Panetta speaking as the CIA chief in May 2011, saying that "enhanced interrogation techniques were used to extract information that led to the mission's success". Panetta said waterboarding was among the techniques used.[80]In aHuffington Postarticle written a week later, Denson cited other statements from Bush government officials saying that torture had yielded information to locate bin Laden.[79]

National security reporterSpencer Ackermansaid the film "does not present torture as a silver bullet that led to bin Laden; it presents torture as the ignorant alternative to that silver bullet".[81]CriticGlenn Kennysaid that he "saw a movie that subverted a lot of expectations concerning viewer identification and empathy" and that "rather than endorsing the barbarity, the picture makes the viewer in a sense complicit with it", which is "[a] whole other can of worms".[82]WriterAndrew Sullivansaid, "the movie is not an apology for torture, as so many have said, and as I have worried about. It is anexposureof torture. It removes any doubt that war criminals ran this country for seven years ".[83]FilmmakerMichael Mooresimilarly said, "I left the movie thinking it made an incredible statement against torture", and noted that the film showed the abject brutality of torture.[84]Critic Andrew O'Hehir said that the filmmaker's position on torture in the film is ambiguous, and creative choices were made and the film poses "excellent questions for us to ask ourselves, arguably defining questions of the age, and I think the longer you look at them the thornier they get".[85]

Screenwriter Boal described the pro-torture accusations as "preposterous", stating that "it's just misreading the film to say that it shows torture leading to the information about bin Laden", while director Bigelow added: "Do I wish [torture] was not part of that history? Yes. But it was."[86]In February 2013 inThe Wall Street Journal,Boal responded to the Senate critics, being quoted as saying "[D]oes that mean they can use the movie as a political platform to talk about what they've been wanting to talk about for years and years and years? Do I think that Feinstein used the movie as a publicity tool to get a conversation going about her report? I believe it,... "referring to the intelligence committee's report on enhanced interrogations. He also said the senators' letter showed they were still concerned about public opinion supporting the effectiveness of torture and didn't want the movie reinforcing that. Boal said, though," I don't think that [effectiveness] issue has really been resolved "if there is a suspect with possible knowledge of imminent attack who will not talk.[87]

In an interview withTimemagazine, Bigelow said: "I'm proud of the movie, and I stand behind it completely. I think that it's a deeply moral movie that questions the use of force. It questions what was done in the name of finding bin Laden."[88]

Objections over the use of recordings of 9/11 victims[edit]

An extensive clip of the phone call to headquarters fromBetty Ong,a flight attendant on one of the hijacked American Airlines planes, was used in the beginning of the film without attribution.[89]Ong's family requested that, if the film won any awards, the filmmakers apologize at the Academy Awards ceremony for using the clip without getting her heirs' consent. Her family also asked that the film's U.S. distributors make a charitable donation in Ong's name, and should go on record that the Ong family does not endorse the use of torture, which is depicted in the film during the search for Osama bin Laden.[89]Neither the filmmakers nor the U.S. distributors ever heeded any of the Ong family's requests.[90]

Mary and Frank Fetchet, parents of Brad Fetchet, who worked on the 89th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower, criticized the filmmakers for using a recording of their son's voicemail without permission. The recording has previously been heard in broadcast TV news reports and in testimony for the9/11 Commission.[91]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^This is the spelling used by the film's end credits

References[edit]

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