Sam Watermeier writes a column for the Daily News. His views and opinions don’t necessarily agree with those of the newspaper or The Daily.
“Zero Dark Thirty” is hard to watch, which is apparent right from the opening minutes, in which we hear cell phone and police scanner talk of the 9/11 attacks. This barrage of audio recordings played over a black screen evokes the feeling of staring into the abyss. The conversations regarding the attacks are chilling and tragic. If only the rest of the film evoked the same raw humanity. What starts as a stark reminder of our nation’s vulnerability becomes a cold, dry account of its revenge upon the man who attacked it.
The character tasked with finding 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden will catch your attention — a frail but fierce CIA officer named Maya (Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain). At a grimy facility in Pakistan, she insists on watching the torture of a detainee with links to Saudi terrorists. This is a woman determined to find the truth. But we never see the roots of her determination — it’s as if she did not exist before the national tragedy. Therein lies the major problem with this film; it lacks universal, timeless appeal, relying on only 9/11 iconography to hold audiences’ attention.
Most of the scenes in the second half of the film consist of Maya struggling to cut through the red tape of organizing an attack on bin Laden. Her colleagues complain that her intel does not warrant action, that too much of it is based on instincts and inferences. Frankly, this kind of bureaucracy is just not fun to watch.
You’d think a film about such an important manhunt would keep viewers on the edge of their seats. But director Kathryn Bigelow imbues the film with little to none of the suspense or panache with which she infused her Oscar-winning Iraq War drama “The Hurt Locker.” The only sequence that comes close to evoking any kind of visual and visceral thrill is the Navy SEAL raid of bin Laden’s compound, which is filmed through the eerie green glow of night-vision goggles.
In painting an utterly realistic, borderline dull fly-on-the-wall look at the hunt for bin Laden, the film distances viewers from the mission and its consequences. Although realism and accuracy is important, the film could have used some sugar to help the medicine go down, so to speak. While I appreciate its refusal to veer into flashy Michael Bay territory, I can’t praise the movie for daring to be dull. The filmmakers behind it don’t seem to trust that a historical account can be entertaining without feeling exploitative.
“Zero Dark Thirty” is nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actress and Original Screenplay. I’m not so sure it deserves them, but it is easy to understand why the film is Oscar bait. It’s timely, as bin Laden was killed just less than two years ago, and political without being preachy. But the film lacks energy and imagination. If you want to see a simultaneously enlightening and entertaining look at the hunt for bin Laden, watch the NBC documentary “Inside the Situation Room.”
Lastly, in regard to the controversy surrounding “Zero Dark Thirty” and its scenes of torture, director Bigelow explained it best; “Depiction is not endorsement.”
If only the film were as edgy and provocative as its buzz suggests.
