Zero Dark Thirty was critically acclaimed for its visceral depiction of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden. The film also received backlash for its alleged stance on controversial interrogation techniques.
Netflix adds 2013's Zero Dark Thirty to its streaming library this December. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, The Hurt Locker), the film depicts the intelligence operations that ended the search for Osama bin Laden. Zero Dark Thirty earned five Oscar nods including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for Jessica Chastain, who played Maya, a CIA intelligence analyst. Maya is modeled after the real operative who helped track and eliminate bin Laden after a decade-long manhunt. The film's highlight is the painstakingly accurate recreation of the Abbottabad compound raid, which lasted 40 minutes and ended with bin Laden dead.
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Zero Dark Thirty met controversy for allegedly approving questionable interrogation tactics; multiple scenes depicted the torture of suspected bin Laden contacts and associates. U.S. senators accused the film of being pro-torture, a divisive stance on America's Global War on Terrorism. Bigelow released a statement in the Los Angeles Times in 2013, asserting her position on the topic. "Those of us who work in the arts know that depiction is not endorsement," she wrote. "If it was, no artist would be able to paint inhumane practices, no author could write about them, and no filmmaker could delve into the thorny subjects of our time."
Zero Dark Thirty Celebrates Its Unsung Main Protagonist
"I support every American's 1st Amendment right to create works of art and speak their conscience without government interference or harassment," she clarified. "As a lifelong pacifist, I support all protests against the use of torture, and, quite simply, inhumane treatment of any kind." If anything, Zero Dark Thirty focused on its main protagonist Maya, who served as a catalyst to the operation's success. Chastain confirmed her scenes faithfully recreated actual events, including the gruesome torture sequences.
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"All the torture scenes — not fun to shoot," she told Vulture. "We filmed them in an active Jordanian prison, and kind of in the middle of nowhere [on the outskirts of Amman]. There's a very strange relationship they have with women over there. One time, I went to lunch with three other guys, we sat down at a table at the restaurant of a really nice hotel in Jordan, and the waiter brought menus for the men, but not for me."
Bigelow asserted that Zero Dark Thirty honors ordinary heroes who were willing to take extraordinary risks. "Bin Laden wasn't defeated by superheroes zooming down from the sky," she stated. "He was defeated by ordinary Americans who fought bravely even as they sometimes crossed moral lines, who labored greatly and intently, who gave all of themselves in both victory and defeat, in life and in death, for the defense of this nation." Bigelow's next film, 2017's Detroit, was just as fearless, encouraging difficult conversations on social inequality and race.
Zero Dark Thirty hits Netflix on Dec. 1.
Source: Netflix
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Zero Dark Thirty
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History
Thriller Drama- Release Date
- December 19, 2012
- Runtime
- 157 Minutes
- Director
- Kathryn Bigelow
Cast
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Jessica Chastain
Maya
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Jason Clarke
Dan
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Kyle Chandler
Joseph Bradley
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Jennifer Ehle
Jessica
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
- Main Genre
- War
