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'Zero Dark Thirty' (15)


****

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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