Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Story: Mark Boal
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Time: 157 minutes
Bottom-line: Not as suspenseful as expected, but authentic and original

Making war films has never been easy, but Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal have pulled off remarkable successes in 3 years, with two excellent war thrillers: The Hurt Locker (for which Bigelow won the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture) and in 2012, Zero Dark Thirty. The film stars Jessica Chastain and Jason Clarke in the lead roles. The tagline of the film says “The true story of the greatest manhunt in history” i.e. this film tells the events that led to the capture and execution of Osama Bin Laden.

The film starts just after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The timeline shifts to 2003, where Maya (Chastain), a CIA officer who has been gathering information since high school about Osama Bin Laden, has just been reassigned to the US Embassy in Pakistan. She works with Dan (Clarke), often accompanying him to black sites to interrogate prisoners under torture. Bit by bit, Maya is able to fit pieces of the puzzle together, and though she does not have strong support from others, she is finally able to locate Osama Bin Laden’s compound. The film tells how the CIA was able to trace his house, and how the raid on May 2nd 2011 was executed.

Among the people in front of the camera, it was
entirely a Jessica Chastain show

In technical aspects, the film excels. Usually the cinematography in Bigelow’s films is top notch, and in Zero Dark Thirty too, the camerawork is superb. The last thirty minutes are brilliantly shot (albeit mostly in the dark), and the editing work is also good. Jessica Chastain was pretty much the only person to feature in most of the scenes, and she carries the huge responsibility easily. She gives a powerful performance, and this will certainly be a huge boost to her career. In fact, until the final raid, the film also portrays the conflicts between the male folk, who believe that torture and punishment will give results, and Maya, who uses her intelligence and wit not just to convince the others, but also to actually track Bin Laden down.

The story is something unique. Making a biopic almost always creates controversy, and when you make a film about one of someone like Osama Bin Laden, it is a huge task and there are loads of conflicts that can arise. But Bigelow does so well to make not only an authentic and gripping film, but to do it with panache. You have to patient when watching this; the first half an hour (and almost throughout the film) it is like reading a book. There is no real ‘edge-of-the-seat’ thrill, but there is credibility. There are no superhuman stunts, but just routine ‘detective work’ (if I can call it that). I expected the last 30 minutes to be electrifying, and found it suspenseful, but not so thrilling. I feel that suspense and credibility have an equal part to play in the film; so their maximum effect is when their ‘amounts’ are equal to each other. And in case you are wondering about the weird title, 'Zero Dark Thirty' basically refers to 30 minutes after midnight - the time when Bin Laden was shot dead.

So, though Zero Dark Thirty is not really classified as a ‘suspense thriller’, the film is possibly the best one anyone can make about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Jessica Chastain’s performance is superb, and in technical aspects, the film is nearly flawless. On the whole, Zero Dark Thirty is not the most thrilling film you may come across, but when it comes to movies of this genre, it is one of the best.

My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%