Is This The Best Time To Watch Zero Dark Thirty? Our film expert weighs in.
It was after the recent events that took place in Paris that I decided to watch the acclaimed 2012 film Zero Dark Thirty that follows the steps of a CIA officer towards the discovery and killing of Bin Laden.
Was it an attempt to learn more about war against terrorism after the shocking attack at Charlie Hebdo, or simply the desire to find answers that drove me to this film? I’m not certain what lead me to finally press play after it had been sitting on my Netflix list for a year, but I know I have not regretted it, and here is why you won’t either.
Through the frigid and distant atmosphere that is built, we witness the cruel events that constitute the hunt for the enemy in an almost out of body experience, as if everything had been done without a single emotion. And this is what I find so brilliant about it: many films try to charm the viewers with fabricated emotions and impose us a single perspective, but here, it broadens our thoughts on America’s “hunt for peace” without restricting them to a specific point of view.
In the final scene of the film, when Jessica Chastain finally gets a look at the man they were able to kill, is may be relief that we see in her eyes, or pride, or victory. But may also be a question, a question she asks all of us spectators: was it worth it? Was the torture and death of so many others worth the value of one man’s body?
It’s the interrogations and reflections laid throughout the story that make Zero Dark Thirty as relevant and topical as it was two years ago: because these questions are still being asked today. Are we fighting a war against a group, against “evil”, or simply a war against war?
Then comes the fact that the director and the lead actor are women. Today, women in cinema still hold a much smaller place than they should. According to a 2013 Celluloid Ceiling Report, women represent only 16% of film directors, and only 11% of clearly identifiable protagonists. I was happily surprised when I learned that a massive event such as the hunt for Bin Laden would be depicted by a female director and actor.
And I should not have had to be. I should not have to be impressed by the fact that they are women. I should not have to be surprised when the credits start to roll. But the sad truth is: we all are.
We should expect to see their names, and when an outstanding adaptation of far-reaching events comes along, I hope it reaches everyone, I hope it breaks the preconceived idea that directors and powerful lead characters are men, I hope it inspires young women to tread the path towards a gender-equal film industry, as Zero Dark Thirty did for me.
In 2010, Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow was the first (and to this day, the only) woman to win the Best Director Academy Award, and I hope, and believe, this finally marks the beginning of the long awaited breakthrough for female directors.
