Fresh off the back of Academy
Award success for ‘The Hurt Locker’, Kathryn Bigelow returns to take on the
contemporary story for the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Everyone, therefore, knows
how this film will end, but yet that doesn’t matter. Using key dates from the
last ten years, Bigelow builds the tension well, focusing on the emotional
journey of C.I.A agent Maya (Jessica Chastain) throughout the film.
The opening sequence is
harrowing. The black screen reads ‘September 11, 2001’ and following the fade
of the text is the sound of the phone calls made to family members and
emergency services from those trapped in the towers. After this opening,
everyone in the cinema auditorium was silent. This sets the tone for the rest
of the film, and also reminds us of the shock the world was left in after these
events.
The use of soundtrack is minimal
- instead we are buffeted by the sounds of single explosions and gunshots,
making the set pieces visceral and almost disturbing. The silence surrounding some
of the scenes instantly sets one on edge – we are waiting for something bad to
happen, and the tension becomes unbearable as you remember the date shown. In
one sequence in particular had me on the edge of my seat, wanting to hide
behind my hands but also wanting to watch. This is one of the key parts of
Bigelow’s film-making – making something we already know about seem horrific
all over again even after years of media exposure.
The cast is excellent, even down
to the smaller roles (and yes, that really is John Barrowman working in the
C.I.A!). I was filled with dread whenever Dan (played by Jason Clarke) came on
screen for fear of what he would to do those in his captivity. Credit should
also go to Reda Kateb, who plays the tortured and broken Ammar in the difficult
scenes opposite Clarke. Both actors encapsulated their roles very well. Kyle
Chandler and Mark Strong are excellent in their respective parts, but Jessica
Chastain is truly wonderful as a woman determined to find bin Laden no matter
what it takes from her. It is true that Chastain appears to be in everything at
the moment, but that is only because she is a very engaging screen presence and
her mastery with emotion is rightly gaining recognition.
One of the problems of the film,
as well as being a touch too long, was putting ‘recognisable’ faces into the
Navy S.E.A.L team put together to attack the compound in which bin Laden was
found. In ‘Argo’, Ben Affleck made a conscious decision to use actors who few
people would recognise from their past screen work to emphasise the anonymity
of the hostages, and this I feel would have worked well in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ –
no one knew who these S.E.A.Ls were so having the ‘familiar’ faces of Joel
Edgerton and Chris Pratt, and others, seemed unnecessary.
It is hard to say whether I
enjoyed this film, but the composition is certainly excellent. I felt that this
piece was more of an education then pure entertainment, although your heart is
set racing at points. This film has caused much controversy, and it is
certainly not a light-hearted frolic, nor something you would necessarily
choose to watch again, but as it stands, this is an excellent piece of
film-making.
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