Thursday, January 17, 2013 – Day four
“Zero Dark Thirty” – directed by Kathryn Bigelow

(Spoilers) I’m having a difficult time saying something critical in an objective way about this film, as it plays more like a documentary than it does a feature film with film-style rather than story driving its plot. In essence, the film is about a CIA analyst responsible for finding Osama Bin Laden and how, over a period of several years, she single-handedly came up with the key witness that narrowed the search for Bin Laden to one specific compound in Pakistan. While this might be plausible, it forces the audience to make a leap of faith that this person exists. Since director Bigelow and her screenwriter, Mark Boal, have made analyst Maya (Jessica Chastain) the central figure around which the plot twists, none of the other characters in the film – excluding Dan (Jason Clarke) the main torturer, who appears later in Washington – are onscreen long enough to develop into likable or even knowable characters. Even the woman who is Maya’s co-worker, Jessica (Jennifer Ehle of “Pride and Prejudice” fame) has very little screen time except for their brief luncheon together (ending in a bomb going off) and the tragic meeting scene where she meets her demise. Therefore, Bigelow has placed all of the storytelling on Maya’s shoulders via her numerous scenes in a variety of settings (one covert compound after another): at her desk, observing torture, driving through checkpoints, etc. However, none of this tells us anything about the plot other than Pakistan and Afghanistan are dangerous places. We know that from the news. But we learn nothing from these scenes except that there are lots of pictures on the wall and she is after “Akmed” the infamous courier of Bin Laden. Oddly, it isn’t torture that reveals the information but a conversation exchange that takes place during an interview she watches on video. After years of searching for this elusive character, presumed dead, an obscure office worker, who appears out of nowhere and then recedes just as quickly, shows up with a file that points the way, saving Maya’s butt in the process as she had exhausted all of her leads (Whew!). The explanation is that the file was overlooked. How convenient and strangely coincidental! Onto the film’s conclusion and the best part – the assault.

On the technical side, I found the direction fascinating. The placement of the camera is often behind something, a stack of books, a file cabinet, a chain-link fence, a dirty window and so on. It’s as if Bigelow wants us to be observers on the outside looking in on something important that is going on. The reason many people find the torture scenes at the beginning so stark is that within this claustrophobic enclosure, Bigelow moves the camera in so close we can count the hairs on the prisoner’s eyebrows. The make-up here is very realistic and it has to be if you’re going to move this close (unlike yesterday’s movie where the makeup looked silly). Cinematographer Greig Fraser uses just the right amount of light, especially in the torture scenes, to reveal what is essential to our understanding of the setting. Otherwise, the background is out of focus (very little POV used). The sets and costumes are nothing unique that might add to the film’s story as the locations often become a blur, one compound is about the same as the next except for a strange settee or a “Persian” rug. The score is virtually absent until we enter the last stretch of the film and accompany the Navy Seals in an even more tightly enclosed space. The film’s “driving” music adds to the dramatic tension and is superior in that regard, albeit brief. The feeling or sensation of being an eyewitness to actual events is a thrill that helps sell this film, if this is what happened and the way it happened. Unfortunately, we will never know. The reported account reinforces visually what we were told, but that does not mean it happened exactly this way. However, the technique Bigelow uses here, nearly all steady-cam (which she has used sparingly to this point) and via night-vision, enhances the realism. If a setting could be awarded as appearing genuine, then the recreation of Bin Laden’s compound was quite incredible and a feat that does deserve an award, as that was truly believable. Unlike some reviewers, I chose to ignore the “Seal-speak” simply because it made no sense to me. I tuned it out. Yet, like the night-vision and the compound’s realism, I felt it added to the realism and did not detract for me.

The conclusion of the film, rather than being a formality, came off as ambiguous and bizarre. I was puzzled in regards to the Bigelow/Boal ending. Out of the darkness, Maya boards a large cargo plane, empty except for some wooden chairs. When asked by the pilot, “You must be someone important. The plane is all yours. Where would you like to go?” Maya doesn’t answer. She stares ahead and cries. Throughout the film she has shown very little emotion except for one angry outburst in a hallway, which Chastain performed well. We’re uncertain why Maya is crying or for whom. If it is for her CIA co-worker, I find it difficult to believe. The two women never got along and never bonded. Perhaps it is a sense of relief or release. We never find out. The image fades to black. The other roles are so minor in comparison to Maya, we never learn what happens to them either and that is ok to a point. But surly we should know what happens to friendless, homeless Maya, whose mysterious background is only alluded to in a brief scene with then CIA Director Leon Panetta (James Gandolfini). “Of course you know I was chosen [for the service],” she replies when asked why she joined the CIA. “I’m not certain I can say,” she adds before he can answer. This not only makes Maya’s character obscure by implication, it practically makes her non-existent. That might be what Bigelow and Boal had purposely alluded to from the start – that Maya doesn’t exist but exemplifies or embodies all of the analysts who worked so hard to solve this case. Therefore in the end, it doesn’t matter what happened to her. Why is she crying? For all the victims of 9/11 and all the soldiers who gave their lives. Perhaps that is the point. I find it difficult to think of another.