'Zero Dark Thirty' - A breath-taking and suffocating piece of cinema.

‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is Kathryn Bigelow’s most recent film since her triumphant Oscar glory with ‘The Hurt Locker’. The narrative follows the ten year hunt for Osama Bin Laden from 9/11 until his death through the eyes of fictional protagonist Mia (Jessica Chastain). Even before seeing the film, Bigelow and Mark Boal (screenwriter) have to be complimented for creating a dignified and plausible piece of cinema about a controversial subject matter less than two years that the reality of the narrative came to a close.

It’d be difficult to present a verdict on ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ without acknowledging the recent controversy at the hands of it through many questioning whether it offers values of pro-torture. To not skip around the truth, the film does open with a range of torture methods from waterboarding to sexual humiliation which does give the CIA information to embark on the next step in their operation. But dismissing this as a justification of human abuse seems to be the easy way out through Bigelow humanising the terrorist rather than the expectation of him just being another statistic in the grand scheme of things. With the supposed hero being the perpetrator of the abuse and referred to as an ‘animal’, the introduction really does begin to embed the moral dilemma of whether there are any heroes in political warfare.

During a recent review, Danny Leigh of ‘Film 2013’ remarked upon it as holding the ability to make ‘Homeland look like Hollyoaks’ which I completely agree with. Following an opening of torture and questioning of morals lies a breath-taking and suffocating piece of cinema. For the entirety of two hours and thirty five minutes, the audience is transformed from being a voyeur upon a political thriller to partaking in this decade long hunt to a stomach-churning extent.

Being obvious through her recent Academy Award nomination, one of the reasons for the film’s critical success is the performance of Jessica Chastain. Through Chastain, the audience witnesses' a female protagonist increasingly indulge in an unhealthy obsession in her occupation eventually leading to an all-consumption of her emotional state. She plays this role to perfection turning Zero Dark Thirty from being a political thriller to almost an emotional drama of some unsung hero in American history. Although, it’d be unfair to only address Chastain through holding standout performances across the board from Jennifer Elhe to Kyle Chandler.

But another actor who pops up in this three hour spectacle is James Gandolfini which leads to the argument of whether a certain boxset has prized him with surely his greatest acting achievement but also an inescapable memory for audiences. Despite being six years since ‘The Sopranos’ ended; I couldn’t help but expect his character to leave the Oval Office and whisk Chastain off to the Bada Bing for his own sexual gratification. Something which could need addressing to Gandolfini or maybe he just holds the appealing personality of a mafia boss in every role he plays.

The concluding forty minutes of ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is one of the most commendable action set pieces of recent history. To some extent, the soldiers’ journey to Bin Laden’s hideout could be claimed as being reminiscent of ‘The Ride of The Valkyries’ from ‘Apocalypse Now’. A comparison between Bigalow and an iconic War film like ‘Apocalypse Now’ can only express the sheer amazement of her direction in the film’s concluding moments. Despite the entire audience knowing the ending of the film, this is perhaps the most nerve-wrenching section of the film which Bigelow manages to articulate, with a combination of surprise and suffocation. One of the reasons for this could be the editor being William Goldenberg (editor of Michael Mann’s critically acclaimed ‘Heat’) who in this has been able to transform a ten year political journey into holding a thrill which wouldn’t look out of place in ‘The Bourne’ trilogy.

Bigelow concludes with the character of Maya shedding a tear on her jet plane home despite defeating Bin Laden. Her upset seems to re-address the moral dilemma of this and also ‘The Hurt Locker’ of whether many countries’ fight for political autonomy and the emotional breakdown for the people involved are too closely entwined?

10/10