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Now on DVD and Blu-ray-Promised Land -
Reacher Coming to DVD and Blu-ray -
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD-Django Unchain ... -
John Ford's Favorite Film -
Coming to Blu-ray and DVD-The Impossible
Now on DVD and Blu-ray-Hyde Park on Huds ...
MAKING FILM SCHOLARSHIP FUN
Now on DVD/Blu-ray—This Is 40
Playing Nationwide: On the Road
Celeste and Jesse Forever on DVD and Blu ...
Photographic Memory—Now on DVD and Blu-R ...
HOORAY FOR 1933—EIGHTY YEARS LATERZERO DARK THIRTY
Boal’s script is based on first-hand reportage and he has masked his characters’ true identities. I have no way of knowing how close to the actual person Chastain’s gutsy, single-minded “targeter” may be but she certainly seems real, especially as played by this gifted actress. By focusing on her we have someone to relate to as we make our way through years of tireless (and often fruitless) effort.
Pursuing leads, following hunches, gaining support for unusual tactics and even (yes) torturing prisoners all play a role in the desperate but long-term hunt for the world’s number-one terrorist…yet Zero Dark Thirty is never dry or repetitious. What we get is a clear-eyed picture of just how difficult and frustrating it is to search for a needle in a haystack. We also see how luck has its place in the world of espionage—though as the old saying goes, the harder you work the luckier you get.
A strong cast includes Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Mark Strong (playing American, for a change), Joel Edgerton, Stephen Dillane, Mark Duplass, Chris Pratt, and James Gandolfini. They all bring life to their characters, whether they’re political functionaries or agents on the front lines. But it’s Jessica Chastain who anchors the film and carries it home for us. In a film that avoids Hollywood histrionics, to immerse us in a world we know little about, this was perhaps the filmmakers’ best decision. Once you get past the headlines, the spin, and the mountain of details, the search for bin Laden was about people—gutsy, hard-working, hard-headed people like the one Chastain embodies so well.
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2 Comments
John Hancock | December 26, 2012 10:11 PM
Nothing is more offensively exploitative than this Hollywood hag Bigelow using the death cries of 9/11 victims for her fictional film. Pandering to neoconservatives who promote the fabrication that torture led to the killing of Osama bin Laden is popular with the anti-intellectual Fox crowd which apparently includes a number of film critics. How nice but besides being ahistorical gutter trash it gives credence to an immoral and illegal torture policy that no one has answered for and been held responsible. Hollywood has always operated in their own post-truth world and want to hide behind a "censorship" cascade. Hollywood won't be believable until they produce their own Oscar winning pro-Palestinian feature film.
Terry Bigham | December 19, 2012 11:15 AM
The movie's title is military slang for the hours when it is late at night or early in the morning.