Zero Dark Thirty

Kathryn Bigelow may have really outdid herself this time around with the perfectly taut and intensely well acted thriller of  Zero Dark Thirty. This is by no means a small feat to pull off after the success of 2009's The Hurt Locker and considering that the hunt for Osama Bin Laden is one of the most ambitious, controversial, and sought after of storylines.  That alone could have easily tanked this movie, but until I saw for myself at how she pulled it off, I had my own latent doubts.  The way she tells the story mostly through the eyes of CIA operative Maya (Jessica Chastain) is amazing to see, especially since the whole undertaking was a frustrating decade long hunt both helped and hindered by the political, military, and intelligence tactics and approaches over the course of two White House Administrations. So if any film was more open to criticism and controversy this year, it would certainly be this one, but I certainly after seeing it, have only praise for it. At nearly 3 very justified hours long, it's hardly noticeable as your invested into the whole story.   The ambiguity of the torture scenes in the movie, despite political criticism, are handled very well. In fact, one of the other things that's so amazing about the picture, is that those scenes and the later scenes of action throughout, including and especially the amazing build up to the raid, are rather unlike anything I've ever seen on film.  Obviously and accounting for that, this is not your average thriller or action movie.  It's a real account, of course with certain cinematic liberties taken, that's still fresh in our minds from a decade ago.  Bigelow makes it such a superb, visceral, almost docu-drama of the highest order, as the audience is finally taken along with the Seals in the blacked out, night-visioned-up suspense and anticipation of raiding Bin Laden's compound.  I found myself so thoroughly engaged in the film, that I was more than audience appropriately and unexpectedly surprised, frightened, on edge, and even disturbed throughout (not an easy undertaking).  Zero Dark Thirty more than deserves the accolades it is currently receiving and I don't think I could add much more of anything else.  I haven't looked at a whole lot of the details about the movie or the making of it, especially in regards to Jessica Chastain's role of Maya and how she was largely instrumental in making the OBL connection and pushing for the raid.  But I can certainly concur that Chastain was great in her portrayal; and that throughout the viewing I kept subconsciously saying that it was almost like Bigelow was being channeled through her main character as this strong woman in that alpha male environment.  Later that same day when watching the Golden Globes, it was Chastain who echoed that same sentiment during her acceptance speech for best performance by an actress.  The greatness of the actors and writers of ZDT should be equally praised with fervor, but I still must lean towards Bigelow's ability as a director to harness all of that into what I think is her best work.