Watch 'Zero Dark Thirty'!

Zero Dark Thirty – still not sure what the title means. But that is the only thing I don’t know about this much acclaimed movie, about the greatest manhunt, for the world's most dangerous man, which is making its presence felt in the Awards season. Its late release (but better late than …) in the Middle East meant, that most had already watched the movie, formed opinions, written their reviews, cast their votes … so what more can this wannabe film critic add?

The biggest wisdom one takes away from this film, is the realization that dawns on the unknowing public, for whom, the headline in the newspaper & the ‘Breaking News’ on TV, is the beginning, the middle & the end.

ZDT takes us behind the headlines & the news –

There maybe those who objected to the intense torture scenes. Confession, having been warned & being an escapist, simply closed my eyes for all these disturbing scenes. But then, I was sitting next to my husband, my reality check meter, who reminded me, that those being tortured, had also been responsible for the death of hundreds across the world, innocent victims, whose families lost sons, daughters, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, friends, loved ones, for no fault of theirs.

But what staggers you is the painful years of hard work, research, determination, hanging on to your convictions when people around doubt you, meticulous effort, money, bloodshed, technology & so much more, that Zero Dark Thirty takes you through, to hunt down an individual! The sum of it all is that article, which you & I read, or gasp over, while watching the news, in between sips of our first shots of caffeine for the day, while packing lunch bags for the family!

AND then there’s Jessica Chastain. All those awards she has picked up already, tell a tale of their own! As Maya, the CIA operative, on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, she goes from vulnerable & reluctant to step into muddy waters, to fearless, unemotionally determined to get the job done & uncompromising. From her first experience of ‘gain information, through pain’ torture scenes, which leave her drained & exhausted, the movie chronicles her growth into a confident, zealous operative, who becomes obsessive with the hunt for Osama Bin Laden!

So why did Kathryn Bigelow miss out on an Oscar nomination?

Jessica Chastain has gone on record to say that she modeled Maya on the strong personality of her director & was totally guided & followed her vision.
Some say that it has to do with the controversy about the inaccurate depiction of the torture scenes. There are others who found ZDT slightly documentary-like, without the emotional quotient, so evident in her previous Oscar winning film, ‘The Hurt Locker’.

Hard to ignore the fact ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ climaxes with the death of the ‘Father Of Terrorism’, which fills your heart, as a viewer, with a sense of deep satisfaction. Even if you don’t approve of the director’s version of CIA interrogation, even if some liberties have been taken, even if there are areas of fiction over truth, watch ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ & participate in the celebration, to mark the end of one chapter, in the war against terrorism!